


FTWD - Twenty Five Days of Christmas 2016

by MaddieFrickenClark



Series: A Perfect Dysfunction - a Clark/Manawa Family AU [1]
Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: A lot - Freeform, Alcoholism, Alicia Nick Ofelia and Luciana are all bffs, Alicia and Ofelia are into sons of anarchy, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Alternate Universe - No Zombies, Chris spends Christmas with the Clarks, Christmas Lingerie, Christmas fic, Domestic Fluff, FTWD, Family Fluff, FearTWDFamily!VerseAU, Fluff and Smut, Friendship, Fuze iced tea is consumed, Interracial Relationship, Kidsquad, Lingerie, Liza is pissed, Luciana has a surprise, Maddie Smokes, Maddie gets kinky at Christmas, Maddie's past, Maori man and Southern woman screw, Multi, Nick and Luci met at community college, Nick loves Gilmore girls, Nick's eyebrows are on fleek, Peanut Clark - the Clark/Manawa family kitten, Sex, Travis gets Chris for Christmas, Travis gets tied up in red ribbons, Ugly Sweaters, abusive Stephen Clark, alcoholic Madison Clark, alcoholic mother, an update a day leading up to xmas, and they have Netflix marathons, cheesy Xmas music, christmas trees are put up, different days include different content, domestic AU, fluffy fluff, interracial smut, lots of Xmas surprises involving families getting bigger, mentions to domestic abuse, nail polish has no gender, potential for Alicia/Ofelia, sex scenes, swears, the kids get a kitten, the kids ice skate, this is very AU but very festive, twenty five days of christmas, warning in notes if necessary, xmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 19:15:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 41,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8680174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieFrickenClark/pseuds/MaddieFrickenClark
Summary: It's December and the Clark/Manawa family, as well as Ofelia and Luciana, are all getting into the festive spirit. Each chapter is a seperate day of December leading up to Christmas. Domestic!AU - if necessary seperate warnings at the start of each chapter. *AN UPDATE A DAY*





	1. The First of December

25 Days of Christmas

 

Day 1 - the 1st of December: The Kitten

 

He needed iced tea, a bottle of Diet Coke and a couple of tins of Pringles. Nick Clark ran through the list one last time in his mind as he wandered down the sidewalk. Part way through a Sons of Anarchy marathon his little sister, Alicia, girlfriend, Luciana, and friend, Ofelia had demanded for him to hurry down to the corner store, as they were almost out of snacks. At first Nick had objected, claiming that he couldn't be bothered, but the girls’ constant whining had eventually gotten to be too much and he'd given up.

 

He took a left and continued down the slightly cracked pavement. He didn't live in the best part of LA, his mother - a guidance counsellor, and her English teacher boyfriend, couldn't afford much better, but he honestly didn't mind. He'd lived in his house since he was born, and it would always be his home.

 

Nick upped his pace to a jog, the Los Angeles evening breeze nice against his face. He felt fit and healthy, nothing like the heroin addict he'd been this time a couple of years earlier. He had been a junkie, constantly off his face with some illicit substance, but by some miracle he had gotten himself clean. He'd been off drugs for almost a year, after a car crash caused him to rethink his priorities. Once he'd gotten off of the drugs he'd returned to community college, which was where he met Luciana, a Mexican immigrant, and the love of his life.

 

Finally, he approached the store. He pushed the door open, causing a small bell to chime as he stepped inside. Quickly he proceeded in scooping a couple of bottles of Fuze iced tea, one mango and one peach, into a shopping basket along with a bottle of coke and the Pringles. 

 

“Good evening, sir.” the man at the cashier said with a grin.

 

“Good evening to you too,” Nick replied.

 

“Will this be all today?”

 

Nick nodded.

 

“So that brings you to…” the man paused and checked the price on the computer, “seventeen dollars fifty.”

 

The young man slipped his hand into his pocket and dug out his wallet before he proceeded in passing the man a twenty dollar bill.

 

“Thank you very much, and here's your change.” He dropped a couple of bills and quarters into one of Nick’s hands and put a brown paper bag into the other. “Have a nice night.”

 

Nick grinned. “You too,” he replied with a swift wave before he exited the shop. 

 

Once he was outside again, the young man paused in order to put the change in his wallet. He glanced around the street, it was pretty still and silent even for a Thursday evening. He was about ready to begin the trek home when something caught his attention.

 

Did that box move? 

 

He glanced at a long abandoned cardboard box that was strewn on the edge of the pavement. 

 

Yep, it definitely just moved again. 

 

Curiosity getting the better of him, Nick placed his shopping bag down and inched closer to the suspicious cardboard cube. As he leaned down, one arm extended and ready to pry it open, he secretly prayed that it wouldn't be rats. He hated small rodents fervently and wanted nothing to do with them.

 

One of his fingers pushed a cardboard flap just enough to expose the contents and Nick peered inside, surprise hit him immediately as he found the source of all the rustling. It was a kitten, a tiny grey creature with white paws and a fluffy white belly. It glanced up at Nick, big grey eyes wide, and introduced itself with a sharp, loud meow.

 

A large grin slipped on the boy's face as he squatted beside the small critter. “Hey buddy, whatcha doing here?” He reached out, his fingers extended, and scooped up the cat. “Have you gotten lost? I don't see a name or phone number on you anywhere. Did someone dump you here?”

 

Nick shuddered at the thought. How could someone dump such a helpless creature? Who could be that cruel? He knew that there was a veterinarian clinic just a little ways down the road, maybe he could ask there if the cat had a microchip or had been reported missing.

 

“How about I take you with me and we go see if the vet knows where you're from? Does that sound good?”

 

He proceeded in bundling the kitten in his grey hooded sweatshirt. Its tiny head poked free of the material and glanced, intrigued, at Nick. “And if we can't find your owner I might have to sneak you home with me. How does that sound?”

 

X-X-X-X

 

A good fifteen minutes later, Nick strolled into the vet clinic. He glanced around, it was completely empty aside from a receptionist, who looked up at him instantaneously.

 

“Hello, how could I help you?” The woman queried as she tapped her pen absentmindedly against the reception desk.

 

“Well,” Nick approached her, “I was at the shop getting some snacks when I found this kitten in a box.” He hoisted the small creature up so the girl could see it. “They were meowing and everything and I can't see a collar so I was wondering if this cat had been reported missing.”

 

The receptionist shrugged, “there's a tabby and a Devon Rex missing at the moment but the kitty you're holding sure doesn't look like either of ‘em. How about if I call the vet and she can see if they have a microchip or anything?” Nick nodded and the woman scooped up her headset. She pressed down on a microphone button, “paging Dr. Bennett, there's a patient out here wanting to see you.”

 

As if on cue, a door opened and a friendly looking older lady stepped out. She smiled first at the kitten and then at Nick before she started to speak. “Hello, I'm Dr. Catherine Bennett.”

 

She extended her hand and Nick shook it. “I'm Nick Clark, I've never been here before.”

 

“Well, then Mr Clark, what brings you here this evening?”

 

He proceeded in rattling off the same story about finding the kitten in the cardboard box outside of the corner store before he asked her if she'd ever seen it before.

 

“I've never seen this lovely kitten in my life but if you'd like I can have a check for a microchip and see if they've been vaccinated.”

 

Nick passed the kitten to Catherine. “Yeah, that'd be great.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

Soon enough Nick had learnt a fair bit about his new friend. She was a female, domestic medium haired kitten. She'd been vaccinated and neutered, which was great, but the vet hadn't been able to find a single scrap of information about who she belonged to. She hadn't been microchipped and no one in the general, vicinity had reported a kitten with even a slightly similar description missing.

 

“So considering that there's no microchip, what's going to happen to her?” Nick queried, a hint of worry in his voice.

 

“Well, she seems to like you quite a bit already, I can see that from those face rubs. Do you have a house?”

 

Nick nodded, “yeah, my family and I live in a house about fifteen minutes away.”

 

“Then if you'd like I suppose you could take her and look after her. We'd have to fill out some paperwork and everything and you'd have to promise to return her if her owner reports her missing. I'd keep her here for a while if I could but it's the time of the year when a record number of domestic household pets are abandoned, mostly because people think it's great to give dogs and cats for Christmas, so I think she'd get better care at your house.”

 

“That sounds great!” Nick presumed that he sounded a hint too enthusiastic but what did it matter? He'd always wanted a pet, a kitten in particular, but his mom wasn't really an animal person so she'd always said no. He knew that he'd have to keep this kitten a secret from her but he supposed that that was possible. He was sure that the girls would be excited. “Can we fill out this paperwork right now?”

 

Dr Bennett nodded. “Sure, come right this way.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

Half an hour, and what the vet described as a small consultation fee of forty five dollars, later Nick slipped silently back in through the front door of his family home. The kitten was held close to his chest, hidden in his hoodie, and he stood silently in the hall, listening to see if his mom was around. A sharp moan and a consistent knocking, obviously a headboard against the wall, sounded from a room down the hall, and Nick knew that the coast was clear. His mom was obviously very preoccupied by her boyfriend. Usually that would make him cringe but right now he was thanking his lucky stars. He knew that she wasn't going to notice he'd snuck a cat into the house while she was in the middle of an orgasm.

 

He hurried down the hallway, past a few doors, and into his younger sister’s room. He supposed that it was practically Ofelia’s room as well since the other girl slept over with her best friend almost every night for the past year.

 

“Finally Nick, whatever the hell took you so long? You've missed two whole episodes.” Ofelia glanced at her friend.

 

Nick looked at the girls. They were all seated around on the ground peering at Alicia’s MacBook screen. Sons of Anarchy, mid violent fight sequence, echoed out of the small tinny speakers. “I have a surprise, I picked something up on the way home from the store.”

 

“Dear God, don't let it be drugs or porn,” Alicia murmured with a playful grin on her face as she glanced at her older brother.

 

“Why do you think so little of me?” Nick grinned at his sister, “and no it's not anything illegal, illicit or derogatory.”

 

“So what is it then?” Luciana asked, looking ever so slightly impatient with her boyfriend.

 

“Well it's small, soft and furry. Any guesses?”

 

“It honestly can't be a repeat of last month's chest hair thing can it?” Ofelia winced at the thought of constantly having to examine Nick’s bare chest and compliment him on what seemed to be invisible chest hair. The boy was adamant that he had a hairy chest yet none of the girls could even see a single hair.

 

“No, but good guess.” He paused and lifted up his sweater, “I dare one of you to look inside.”

 

“I will,” Alicia declared bravely. She stood up and took the grey bundle of cotton from her brother. “Eek! It moved!” She pulled back the fabric and let out a small scream. “It's a kitten!”

 

Nick slapped his hand over her mouth, “unless you want mom to chase it out the house, pistol in hand, shut it Leesha.”

 

Ofelia began to bounce up and down, making herself look five instead of twenty five and Luciana looked just as excited.

 

“But it's a kitten Nick, where did you get it?” Alicia scooped it up and nuzzled her nose into its furry back.

 

“Can we keep it?” Luciana reached out and stroked its tummy.

 

Ofelia grinned. “Flip it over, let's see if it's a guy or a girl.” 

 

“Guys quiet down, my mom can't find out about it because if she does we’re not going to be able to keep it.”

 

“Your mom’s not that cold guys!” Ofelia rolled her eyes.

 

Alicia and Nick both looked at each other. “Oh yes she is,” they both declared in unison. 

 

“Where did the kitty come from?” Luciana was stroking the critter with her fingers, her nail polish chipped.

 

“Well I went to pick up the drinks…”

 

“Gimme, I need Fuze!” Alicia cut Nick off and snatched the bag. She proceeded in pouring some slightly orange tinged opaque liquid into an empty glass. “Okay, continue.”

 

“So I went to grab the drinks and when I left the store I saw a box and it was moving so I looked inside. There I found this kitten and when I saw no ID…”

 

Ofelia began to laugh and Nick flashed her a dirty look. “Sorry Nick, you can continue, I was just picturing a kitten holding up a tiny photo ID for the cops.”

 

“So let's try this for a third time. I saw that there was no collar or anything so I thought I'd take the kitten to the vet to see if they'd been reported missing. There was no microchip but I found out that this furry thing is a girl and that she's been neutered and vaccinated. The vet asked me to look after her until the owners are located.”

 

Luciana rose an eyebrow, “what if they never find the owners?”

 

“Well we become the official owners, how about it girls, who wants to help me raise a kitten?”

 

They all cheered, quietly of course, and Ofelia scooped up the small beast. “What are we going to call you?”

 

Alicia grinned, a glint in her eyes, “what about Jax?”

 

Nick flashed her a look, “no way, for two reasons. One - she's a girl, and two - she's not a rogue biker.”

 

Alicia jutted out her bottom lip and rolled her eyes, “imagination? Ever heard of it Nick?”

 

Luciana glanced at the cat, “what about Gato, that's cat in Spanish.”

 

“That's practically calling a cat ‘cat’.” Ofelia replied as she sipped some iced tea.

 

“We could call her Fluffy or Smoky.” Nick suggested.

 

Ofelia shook her head, “what do you guys think of Peanut? Mostly because she looks like a sweet little peanut.”

 

“I actually like that.” Alicia grinned.

 

“So do I,” Nick ruffled the kitten’s fluffy coat.

 

“That suits her.” Luciana tilted her head and peered at the cat, “hi Peanut, I'm Luci. My lovely boyfriend saved you from the cardboard box.”

 

Peanut stepped toward Luciana and proceeded in giving her face a rub. 

 

“You're purring, that's adorable!” Luci scooped the kitten into her lap.

 

Nick glanced over at the laptop, Netflix and the episode both long forgotten. “Do you think Peanut would like to watch some Gilmore Girls with us?” 

 

Nick and Alicia had both watched Gilmore Girls for years and it turned out that Ofelia was quite the avid fan. They'd all been eager to watch the new ‘Year in the Life’ series, which had just been released but just as they'd settled down to start it Luciana had announced that she'd never seen the original series. Nick, completely disgusted at the notion of his girlfriend never seeing what he described to be one of the classics, he'd insisted that they rewatched the entire thing with Luci before they started the revival.

 

“I think Peanut would love that, as long as she gets to be on my lap.” Alicia replied.

 

Ofelia leaned over and quickly scrolled through Netflix in search of the correct title. “Okay season two, episode three, here we come.”

 

Peanut began to purr softly and Alicia beamed, “I think she loves us guys.”

 

The only boy in the room beamed, “she's going to be our special Christmas kitty, isn't she?”

 

Ofelia nodded, “she most definitely is.”


	2. December the 2nd - the Playlist

Day 2 - the 2nd of December: The Playlist

 

“Why the hell did I ever become a guidance counsellor?” Madison Clark dropped down onto the living room couch, glass of red wine in one hand and a mug of what was obviously not coffee in the other.

 

Travis Manawa, who was also seated on the sofa, reached out and pulled her into his lap. “Maybe because you like to help teenagers solve their problems?”

 

The blonde rolled her eyes and sipped her glass, “if I didn't love you so much I'd slap you right now.” She nestled herself closer to him, “I suppose that my intention was to help them but it's tiring, you know? Day in, day out, I'm confronted with so much shit.”

 

“You don't have to bring that home with you, you're here now. You've got me, you don't have to worry about those kids.”

 

Maddie peered into her mug, she swished it gently to the side, and watched as the clear liquid moved. She supposed he was right, she had him and her liquor. She was going to be just fine.

 

“Mom, you look all melancholy,” a voice suddenly called out. “What's up, do you need a quick Nick hug?”

 

The woman rolled her eyes again and watched as her son bounded into the room. He was a tall, lanky, ratty haired nineteen year old, who still lived in his childhood home. Madison wasn't complaining though, because, up until about a year ago he'd been living in a filthy drug den. She was still silently grateful that he had gotten clean and not just continued living the life of an addict, continued on like his mother. Maddie wasn't into drugs though, it was alcohol that she was addicted to. She was an alcoholic, she would have thought that it was blatantly obvious, she was clutching a couple of glasses of liquor for god’s sake, but her kids seemed either oblivious or purposely ignorant.

 

“Okay, maybe mommy does need a quick Nick hug.” She opened her arms wide and embraced her son. For a moment she imagined him as a small child but soon let the thought disappear as quickly as it had come. She sure missed her children being young and innocent but she knew that she'd never wish to go back to those days. 

 

“I know I'm like so old but I still love sometimes giving you a hug, mom.” Nick smiled, “but don't tell the girls or they'll mock me.”

 

“You're never too old to give your mom a hug,” Maddie grinned softly.

 

Travis, who had been sitting silently typing on his phone the entire time, glanced up at the pair. “Nick, what are you and the girls up to?”

 

“We just finished rewatching Stranger Things for like the forth time and we’re not exactly sure what we’re doing now. Maybe Gilmore Girls?” 

 

Maddie grimaced. “Honestly, all you four do is watch TV.”

 

“But mom, Netflix is amazing.”

 

Travis tilted his head to the side, “it actually is, Angel.”

 

A third eye roll, “not you too, babe.”

 

The Maori man slung his arm around her shoulders. “We just need to get into a series together and you'll see what we're talking about.”

 

“Trav, honestly there are much better ways to spend the evening together.” She waggled her eyebrows and bit at her bottom lip in the way that inevitably turned her lover on. She slid her hand over the crotch area of his trousers and rubbed at a hard bulge.

 

“Eww! Mom you know I'm right here, I don't want to know about your sex life.”

 

“Shut it Nick, you honestly think that I'm unaware of you and Luciana’s activities? I choose to ignore them, so you can at least accept that I'm an adult and that Travis and I screw, a hell of a lot.”

 

Travis, who had a turned a nice shade of embarrassed red, glanced at Nick. “Sorry man, your mom really needs to drop the innuendos, doesn't she?” He gave Maddie a look of mock disapproval.

 

“Nick is old enough to endure a reference or two, I'm sure.” The southern woman took another sip from her wine glass. 

 

“Travis, is my mom traumatizing my big brother again?” Alicia strolled into the room and glanced at her mother’s boyfriend. Surprisingly, even for herself, Alicia liked Travis a lot. At first she'd been dismissive and acted as though he was a replacement but soon she saw a side of her mom that only came out when Travis was around. He made her laugh, he made her happy. Alicia hadn't ever seen her dad make her mom either one of those things, and the more she got to know Travis, the more she started to enjoy his company. He was a good man, and she saw him full the role of a dad better than her biological father ever had.

 

“I think she is, but Nick is a strong young man and I'm sure that he'll be fine.”

 

Alicia perched herself up on one of the couch armrests. “Nick; Ofelia, Luci and myself are all wondering if you'd like to help us come up with a Christmas playlist.”

 

The boy grinned, “sure, that sounds great.”

 

“You want your mom’s help, I'm a fricken master when it comes to music.” Maddie lowered her mug, as she had just been sipping from it, and glanced at her children.

 

“Oh I don't know mom…” Alicia murmured.

 

“Just let the woman help, I can bring the laptop in here and we can get going.” Ofelia declared suddenly as she bounded into the room, Luciana in tow, clutching Alicia’s MacBook. “We could use both your help, guys.” 

 

“What songs have we got so far?” Nick queried.

 

The oldest brunette spun the laptop around and tapped softly at the screen. “Nothing yet.”

 

“How about Mistletoe, you know, the Bieber one from his pre-tattoo good boy days?” He was not at all ashamed of his fondness for Bieber. Nick didn't really like Justin, as a person, but he was willing to admit that he released some catchy singles.

 

“I didn't raise my son to grow up and listen to that little shit.” Maddie rolled her eyes, “you definitely didn't take after your mommy when it comes to taste in music.”

 

“Yeah Nick, that song is so annoying.” Ofelia grimaced slightly, “if I were under the mistletoe with Bieber I definitely wouldn't be kissing him.”

 

“I get that ‘Felia but Nick and I have listened to that godawful tune every Christmas since it was first released and it wouldn't be Christmas without it.” Alicia clicked on the trackpad and added the song to the playlist, which was titled ‘L.O.A.N. X-Mas 2016 Playlist’. L.O.A.N. stood for Luciana, Ofelia, Alicia and Nick, obviously, and the acronym was Alicia’s wise idea.

 

“Okay fine, put it on there.” Ofelia ran some fingers through her hair, “we need an old classic on there, ‘All I want for Christmas is you’. You know? The Mariah Carey one?”

 

“Fine, it’s going on there. Any suggestions Luci?”

 

Luciana shrugged, “the Fifty Harmony version is pretty good too.”

 

Nick grinned, “I agree with the girlfriend.”

 

Luciana let out a snort, “you better, or the girlfriend’s gonna be annoyed.”

 

“A girl after my own heart,” Maddie glanced up from the sofa. “Luciana, you and I both know how to keep a man in check.”

 

Luciana laughed softly and proceeded in giving Maddie a high five. In all honesty, Madison adored her son’s choice in girl. At first she'd been surprised at the age difference, but Nick had promptly told her to take a look in the mirror, and she'd come to the conclusion like mother, like son. Travis was five years younger than her, and Luciana was five years older than Nick. 

 

“What about some Michael Buble?” Travis cut in suddenly. He'd been playing with Maddie’s hair and, unbeknownst to the guidance counsellor, had braided it into two small plaits.

 

“I'm with Travis, it's not Christmas without Michael. His voice is like a warm, gooey caramel pudding.” Ofelia drifted into a dreamlike state. 

 

“And it’s official, ‘Felia has the hots for Bublé!” Alicia clapped.

 

“Leave her alone,” Maddie quipped, her southern accent strong. “And he ain't bad, he's got a fine ass.”

 

“Cougar!” Nick jumped up from the carpet and pointed at his mom.

 

Maddie rolled her eyes. “Just remember when you point there's always three fingers pointing back at you.”

 

“You're still a cougar, girls, back me here.” He turned to his sister, girlfriend and friend.

 

“Mom’s definitely a cougar,” Alicia interjected. “Remember that time she walked in on us watching Sons of Anarchy to tell us that dinner was ready. It just happened to be a sexy scene with Jax and she just sat down on the ground with us and watched the entire thing before she turned to me and said, “would it still be cheating if it's with Charlie Hunnam?” If that doesn't scream cougar, I don't know what does.”

 

Travis grinned and pulled a frowning Maddie closer to him. “That must mean I look pretty good for my age.”

 

The blonde grinned, “damn right you do.”

 

Alicia grimaced. “And this is one of those times when I wonder how you're a counsellor.” 

 

Madison shrugged, “I wonder the same thing all the time.” She paused and turned to Travis, “and I also wonder what the bloody hell you just did to my hair.”


	3. Chapter 3

Day 3 - The 3rd of December: The Tree

 

“Nick it's too early for this!” Alicia Clark murmured into her pillow before she begrudgingly lifted her head and peered at the door. 

 

“Yeah, get lost, some people are trying to sleep.” Ofelia glanced up at her friend from the blowup mattress that she had been sleeping on. Despite having practically been Alicia’s ‘roomie’ for about a year, she didn't have a real bed and usually slept on the mattress and some quilts and blankets that Madison had found for her. More often than not, though, she would stay up and have Netflix binges with Alicia only to end up falling asleep on her friend’s bed. 

 

“But no one in this house is awake, how bloody lazy are we all?” an ever persistent Nick called back through the door.

 

“What part of get lost don't you understand? Leeshy and I are exhausted.” Ofelia turned to her best friend, “damn, your brother’s a pain in the ass.”

 

Alicia grinned and sat herself up, cross legged on the bed, still dressed in a sleep shirt and some shorts. “I couldn't agree more.”

 

“I heard that!”

 

There was that irritating voice again. 

 

“We told you to go back to bed, or at least go bother mom, Travis, Luci or anyone besides us.”

 

“But you're awake now. Leesha! Let me in.” Nick continued to hammer his fist against the door.

 

“What do you want anyway?” Alicia pulled the door open and rolled her eyes. Her brother was only dressed in a pair of white and blue striped boxers and had a serious lack of a top, leaving his unmuscular chest exposed. 

 

“Stranger Things rewatch? Because we pick up something we haven't noticed before every time.” Nick grinned, “you too Ofelia, in the living room? Surround fricken sound?”

 

As much as Nick annoyed the pair they both actually weren't that tired and a Stranger Things rewatch wasn't the worse thing ever. They had watched the show for the first time earlier that year, it had been Nick’s idea. He'd run into the room claiming that there was a new show about a bald girl and a heap of kids and a whole conspiracy and had insisted on not leaving the house until he'd seen the whole thing. All four of them had curled up around the MacBook and not moved until they'd binge watched all eight episodes.

 

“Okay, I'm coming.” Alicia stood up. 

 

“Me too, I suppose but don't blame me if I fall asleep.”

 

Both girls followed Nick into the living room, only to find Luciana already seated on the sofa. 

 

“Luci, when did you get up?” Nick sat himself down onto the sofa and pulled his girlfriend into his lap. 

 

“I heard you hammering away at Alicia and Ofelia’s door and I decided that I was awake. What're we all doing?”

 

“Stranger Things! Just because we can, we're watching it again!”

 

The Mexican grinned at her boyfriend. “Count me in.”

 

Alicia tossed the Apple TV remote at her brother, “get the show going. I'll grab us all some toaster waffles.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Mmmm, Travis, babe, keep doing that, that feels amazing…” Madison Clark let out a slow moan and tossed her head back in pleasure, her dyed blonde curls fanning out from her like a halo. 

 

Travis moved his head up from between her legs and slid his mouth hungrily over her large, bare breasts. He bit gently, his teeth sunk into the soft flesh and his fingers, previously brushing at her upper thighs, sunk gently into her, fingering at the wet, sticky moistness. His lips encircled her hard nipples and as he sucked she let out another moan.

 

She grinned before she proceeded in biting at her lover's neck. She wrapped a leg around his waist and felt him slip into her. He was hard and sunk into her warm, wet depths. 

 

Her breasts banged back and forth against his chest and she dug her hands into his back, nails pulling at the chocolate brown flesh.

 

“Harder, damn it Travis, harder.” 

 

He thrust in further, his hands cupped her ass and his lips hungrily nibbled at her neck. She smelt of smoke, stale liquor and cheap perfume. He wouldn't have ever picked it but that combination of smells was such a fucking turn on.

 

He felt her brush at his inner thighs with her hands and whisper soft obscenities into his ear. She liked it rough, he liked it gentle, and, most of the time, they tended to settle for something in between. 

 

Travis pulled out slowly, the pair both still wet and sticky. Madison lay herself down beside her partner, her hands softly rubbing at his manhood. “Damn, that was so fucking nice. I definitely didn't expect to wake up to that!”

 

“Neither did I but we were already naked and it's a Saturday so what can I say?” He smiled at her, his hair a slight mess of soft black curls around his face. She knew it sounded bloody cliched but, in that moment, sunlight illuminating the large tribal tattoo on his stomach, he wasn't an English teacher, he was her Maori warrior.

 

“You know how to please a woman.” She nestled her face against his chest and smiled softly to herself.

 

“Well I think I know how to please my woman. I'm sure Liza would beg to differ, she was never contented by my bedroom skills.”

 

“Fucking idiot!” Maddie laughed. She swore a lot, especially for the guidance counsellor that she was, but she was always ten times worse on her post sex high. “She obviously doesn't know what she's missing.”

 

“Obviously. I'm not one to compare my past relationships, but Liza didn't have what you have, I can promise you that one. She definitely wasn't you.”

 

Maddie sat up, raised an eyebrow and jutted out her chest. “Didn't have any of this?”

 

Travis laughed softly, reached out and pulled her down on top of him. “Definitely not.” 

 

X-X-X-X

 

“And here's our resident Joyce Byers!” Nick declared as he watched his mother strolled from the bedroom and through the living room. She was dressed in nothing but one of Travis’ shirts, her makeup was smeared and her hair was a mess. “And look she's going for a cigarette, very in character.”

 

“Shut up, mommy just needs a quick smoke.”

 

She stepped out onto the patio and proceeded in lighting up a cigarette. 

 

“Post sex cigarette?” Ofelia queried with a laugh.

 

“I'm sure,” Nick replied. They hadn't had to keep upping the TV volume for nothing. 

 

“Morning everyone!” Travis strolled happily into the living room. He was dressed in a grey cotton t-shirt and a pair of plaid boxers. “What are you all doing?”

 

“Watching Stranger Things.” Alicia replied as she smiled at her almost step father. 

 

“That's like all the rage right now, isn't it? A heap of kids in my classes watch it and Chris was telling me about it last time we talked on the phone.”

 

“It's pretty damn amazing!” Nick grinned, “we've all watched it like a million times.”

 

“I might have to watch it sometime.” Travis paused, “have you seen your mom by any chance?”

 

“On the patio,” Nick pointed at the door. “Puffing her lungs away.”

 

The English teacher grinned, “I didn't ask you to paint me a visual, I'm bringing her in for a coffee.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

She looked rather beautiful, Travis decided. Almost like a vintage movie star, attractive, sultry, haunting. The light morning breeze caused her dark blonde curls to dance around her face, her form was engulfed in one of his shirts, yet a few buttons were undone to expose ample cleavage. A pair of red marks appeared to be surfacing on her neck, he was sure he knew where those were from, and her lips were clasped around a single cigarette. He knew that he had fallen for a tragedy, as he stood watching, it only became more obvious. And he also knew that some tragedies didn't want saving.

 

“Angel, I'm making the kids coffee, you want one?” He approached her, the smell of smoke no longer phased him.

 

She plucked the cigarette from between her lips. “Pumping my kids up with caffeine, damn it sure sounds like something that I would do.” Her hazel eyes glimmered and she took another drag. “What ever would do without you Travis, you're the sensible one.”

 

Travis grinned softly and nuzzled his face into her hair. “Maybe you'd be forced to make your own coffee?”

 

Maddie laughed and pawed softly at her partner’s chest. “Now that sounds like a disaster!”

 

X-X-X-X

 

Eventually the family were all settled around the living room, caffeine filled drinks in hand. 

 

Maddie was curled up to Travis on one of the sofas, her head nestled into his chest and one of his arms tightly around her. She didn't flinch around him, she hadn't in years. She trusted him, trusted his touch, knew that he wasn't like her ex. She played the role of a strong woman, a strong mom, day in and day out, but she knew she was just the shell of a screwed up little girl who remembered being hit long before she was ever hugged. Remembered constantly being called a filthy bitch, a whore, a slut by the men who were supposed to love her. That wasn't him though, he'd never insulted her. He was the man who called her beautiful in the early hours of the morning when she was makeup-less, half asleep and dressed in one of his shirts. He was the man who helped heal her scars instead of create them. He was the man who said she smelt lovely, even when she reeked of cigarette smoke, and the only man who didn't look at her like she was a lost cause.

 

“I have an idea,” Nick declared suddenly. “It's the third of December, I'd say it's about time to put up the Christmas tree.”

 

“Yeah!” Alicia clapped her hands together. “Let's do it, I think it's one of my favourite parts of the festive season.”

 

Ofelia grinned, “why the hell not? I'm just sipping this coffee, which is damn good, thank you very much Travis, and that's a much more productive way to spend the morning.”

 

Happy with the majority of the responses, Nick turned to his girlfriend. “How about you Luci? You wanna help?”

 

The Mexican girl grinned and cradled one of Nick’s hands in both of hers. “Of course baby, where do you keep the tree?”

 

“In the closet at the end of the hall, come on guys, you can help me grab the decorations.”

 

Travis gently nudged Maddie free of his embrace and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “Be right back, Angel. I just have to make sure that your son doesn't make too much of a mess.”

 

“Rude!” Nick declared as he flashed his stepfather a mock look of disgust. “Do you lack that much trust in me?”

 

“Sorry Nick but I suppose I do. Alicia on the other hand, I do trust her.”

 

“Thank you Travis. At least one person in this family acknowledges me.” She was joking but Travis was aware of an underlying sadder tone. 

 

“Well you're the smart one Alicia.”

 

The girl grinned, “thanks…”

 

X-X-X-X

 

The group soon returned and, with only a slight bit of help from Travis, they had managed to get the tree standing straight. They had had that same plastic tree for as long as Madison could remember. She'd gone out and bought it for Nick’s first Christmas and she remembered the look on his tiny face when he saw it for the very first time. Stephen hadn't wanted to get one, he claimed that they were ‘messy and tacky’, but Maddie had insisted. She'd never gotten a tree when she was growing up and she’d always dreamed of ensuring her children got the Christmases she'd never had.

 

She watched as her children, boyfriend, Ofelia, and Luciana all encircled the tree in an attempt to string up the Christmas lights. They looked happy and she supposed that that should make her happy too but in actual reality she craved a drink and maybe a quick smoke. As she watching them laughing together, talking, twisting tinsel, she was flooded with memories. 

 

Suddenly she pictured herself, about nine years prior, seated on the exact same couch, watching her children string up the Christmas lights on the fake pine tree. They had spent a good few hours decorating that tree and the pair had been ecstatic to show daddy. Stephen had been at work, she hadn't complained, she relished in all of the time he wasn't home. She was thankful that she could have some hours alone, with her children, without the constant threat of him looming over her. She remembered when he had returned home, Nick and Alicia had ran to the front door to see him. He'd just brushed them off dismissively, with a swift claim that he was tired, and retreated to the sanctuary of his office.

 

“You know they've been waiting all day to see you? They wanted to show your their tree.”

 

“Go away Madison, I'm busy.”

 

She'd stepped into the room, she knew she shouldn't, but she needed to confront him. She couldn't have him treating their children, her children, like crap and she needed to do something about it.

 

“I don't care, they want to see you, you're their dad. They love you, Stephen.”

 

“I told you that I'm busy, that I don't have time for this, you ignorant, alcoholic bitch.”

 

By this point he had been standing up. He had slapped her hard across the face, the brunt of his force on her left eye. Her lip had split on impact, her eye had begin to swell and her nose bled harshly. She'd immediately recoiled, cradled her face in her hands. He'd gone in for a second slap, this time he had smashed his fist into her collarbone. She was crying, she didn't cry, she only cried when he hit her. When he hit her she suddenly felt five years old, scared and like her daddy was angry.

 

She had gone into the bathroom to clean herself up. Her face had been bleeding, her eye was swollen and bright red and her collarbone was aching. She was a battered wife, a broken, abused woman. She hated it, wished that she could leave him but she knew that he'd fight for custody and that he'd probably win. He was a stable business man, she was an alcoholic. The outcome was obvious.

 

“Angel are you alright?” 

 

Travis’ voice shook Maddie from her thoughts. She glanced at him, at the loving, gentle man. The man who would never hurt her, who had never laid a hand on her, who would kill himself if he were to even come close to giving her a black eye.

 

“Yeah I'm fine, just thinkin’.” 

 

He sat himself down on the sofa and pulled her closer to him. “About Stephen?”

 

“How do you fuckin’ know me so well?”

 

“I just don't want you thinking about that, about him. You have me now, and the kids.” He motioned to the tree, where the four were busy hanging an array of ornaments. “We’re going to have an amazing Christmas, all of us, together as a family.”

 

“You're too damn good for me, you know that right?”

 

“Now I don't agree with that,” Travis smiled. “How about you get up and put the star on?”

 

Maddie smiled and took the star from her boyfriend, “you're amazing.”


	4. Chapter 4

Day 4 - The 4th of December: the Manicure

 

Alicia Clark glanced across the room at her older brother. The young man was cradling a large plastic Tupperware container filled with nail polish and he had a large smile on his face. His ratty brown hair was tied into a messy man bun and he was dressed in a t-shirt and some worn jeans.

 

“What's with all the nail polish?” Alicia raised an eyebrow.

 

“Well I was thinking, you know how it's December and everything, I feel that Christmas manicures might be in order.”

 

“Okaaay…” the brunette replied, stretching the ‘a’, before she turned to the other two girls in the room. “Do you two want to paint your nails too?”

 

Ofelia grinned, “yeah I suppose.” She examined the tips of her fingers and screwed her nose up in disgust at the chipped purple polish on her nails. “I think it's about time I did a repaint.”

 

“I'm with you,” Luciana waggled her own fingers dismissively. “I'm not really liking this horrible hot pink colour I decided to use.”

 

“Well then what are we all waiting for?” Nick tipped the container and watched as all of the polishes tumbled out.

 

“Now that was really smart, wasn’t it Nick?” Alicia flashes him a distasteful glance.

 

“How else did you expect us to find the right colours?”

 

Ofelia sat herself down at the kitchen table beside Nick. The pair had never been romantically involved, Nick was in a serious relationship with Luciana after all, but that had never prevented them from sharing a good banter. They had the right chemistry to bounce off of each other and act in an innuendo filled flirtatious manner without actually needing to flirt. “I was thinking we could take inspiration from Pinterest, you know, pick out some nice festive designs that we could copy.” She spun her iPhone around to reveal a serious of Christmas inspired nail art ideas. 

 

“Ooohh let me see!” Alicia exclaimed excitedly as she pulled out a chair near to Ofelia and plucked the phone out of her friend’s hands. “I like this one,” she announced as she pointed to a photo of a simple design. It consisted of a French tip type base but with some added glitter and tiny sprig of holly painted onto the ring finger nail. “But I honestly doubt that I'm skilled enough to actually pull it off.”

 

“Alicia, honey, you are so much better than me!” Ofelia rolled her eyes, “I get more nail polish onto the flesh around my nails than I do on them.”

 

“What design are you going for then, something simple?”

 

The older brunette shrugged. “I really should but I've had my heart set on doing Stranger Things inspired nails forever now. You know? A Christmas light design that just looks festive to the untrained but screams out “Will” to our inner fangirls?”

 

“Hell Yeah!” Nick clapped his hands together excitedly. “Now I think that would look amazing.”

 

Luciana nodded, “I definitely approve, Ofelia.” She turned to Alicia swiftly, her black curly ponytail swished behind her head. “Can I see the design ideas?”

 

“Sure,” Alicia handed the phone over. “We have quite the variety of colours here but if you need I think Ofelia and I have some more in our room.”

 

“And our mom has like black, black, black, red, red, and red.” Nick added sarcastically. 

 

“Her choice in nail colour really mirrors her personality.” Ofelia let out a laugh.

 

“Oooh, don't go saying that in front of her. If she wasn't either smoking by the pool or screwing Travis right now I'm sure she'd tear you to shreds with her black nails,” Nick mocked.

 

“I'm so scared!”

 

“Seriously guys, do these ones look good?” Luciana held the phone up to reveal a predominantly red sparkly nail design, except with one of the fingers on each hand painted to look like a Christmas hat.”

 

“Now that's cute!” Alicia cooed softly. “You need to go with that one.”

 

Ofelia scooped up a tub of white nail polish and unscrewed it carefully. “I'm starting now, would you guys like some Christmas tunes?”

 

“Yeah, I'll grab my MacBook.” Nick hurried out of the room and returned moments later clutching his computer. He opened his iTunes library and soon the small speakers had begun to exude tinney festive music.

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Oh my god Nick, are you seriously painting your nails?” Ofelia declared suddenly as she glanced up from her own fingers. 

 

“Yeah, why wouldn't I? I was the one who suggested that we paint our nails in the first place.” He paused and picked up a small tub of blue nail polish, the one he had been using to copy a snowflake design from Pinterest, and held it in front of Ofelia. “Look at this bottle of nail polish. Does it have a dick? Does it have boobs?”

 

Slightly amused and very confused, the brunette shook her head. “No it doesn't, it's nail polish. I'd quite frankly be very alarmed if it did.”

 

“Well think about that for a moment, nail polish has no gender. It's not just for girls, or for guys, it's for anyway with a somewhat long attention span and good fine motor skills.”

 

Ofelia chuckled, “well you pose a goddamn good argument. I suppose you're right…” She trailed off and shook her head, “I still don't get how you're better at painting your nails than I am.”

 

“I just told you,” Nick beamed. “It's the attention span and fine motor skills.”

 

“SHIT!”

 

Everyone turned to face Alicia. She'd somehow managed to tip a bottle of nail polish and the contents was pooling on the table. 

 

“Fucking nail polish,” she grunted as she picked it up in a somewhat useless attempt at lessening the damage.

 

Nick rolled his eyes and stood up, “you're such a klutz, Leesha! And honestly all those profanities are making you sound like mom.”

 

Alicia gave him a half painted middle finger, “you go get the paper towels and help me clean up instead of just standing here and acting like a smart ass.”

 

“Okay I'm going.” He hurried toward the kitchen, but of course not before he gave his little sister a quick rude finger back.

 

X-X-X-X

 

“And now we just wait…” Ofelia mused with a sigh.

 

A good ten or so minutes later the four were seated around the table flapping their fingers up and down in an attempt to speed the drying process.

 

“I'm actually pretty happy with the look of mine, I thought it was going to be a giant disaster but it only ended up being a minor one.” Alicia peered down at her fingers and smiled.

 

“I like mine too.” Luciana added. “They're not as good as the picture though.”

 

“Oh they look lovely honey, mine are very Joyce Byer’s shabby chic decor.” Ofelia tapped her nails against the false wood of the tabletop.

 

Nick nodded, “now I definitely agree with that. How do mine look girls?” He held up both his hands, exposing ten light blue nails that were dotted with white in an apparent attempt at snowflakes. 

 

“Amazing!” Alicia clapped with a grin. “I actually think we need to take a selfie with our nails.” She scooped her iPhone off of the table and slid the camera open.

 

Everyone got into the shot and, once their fingers were visible, Alicia counted down from three before she tapped down on the capture button.

 

“What are you four up to?” Madison queried suddenly as she walked up to the table. She wrapped her arms around Nick's neck and kissed her son on the head. 

 

Nick turned and grinned at his mom. She was clothed in a tight black camisole and some black skinny jeans. She carried a slight aroma of smoke and her blonde hair was tousled. “Just painting our nails.”

 

Curious, Maddie peered at her son’s hands. “And you painted your nails too?”

 

“Yep, don't they look stylish.”

 

Maddie rolled her eyes, “very lovely, baby.” She actually didn't care in the slightest that her son was applying nail polish, better that than drugs, she supposed, and in that moment she was thanking god that his father was no longer around. That bastard, she didn't even want to think about his response. “And girls, yours’ looks amazing as well.”

 

Ofelia grinned. “Thanks Maddie, you should paint yours as well.”

 

The blonde shrugged, “maybe some other time, I'm shit when it comes to nail polish.”

 

Nick chuckled, “I'll help, if you'd like.”

 

Another eye roll, “I might have to take you up on that offer.”

 

“Just name a place and a time and I'll be there.”


	5. Chapter 5

Day 5 - the 5th of December: The Mall

 

He sure was something, Madison Clark decided as she watched her boyfriend from the doorway. He was completely captivated by the English lesson he was giving his students and the fact that he looked so animated and enthusiastic forced a smile onto her face. He was a brilliant teacher and she knew that her daughter was getting a great education from him.

 

She had just finished up with a student, she was a guidance counsellor, and she had slipped out to the back of the school for a quick cigarette. She didn't usually smoke, especially at school, but some of the kids and the stories they told her, shook the woman to her very core. The self harming teenage girl she'd just talked with had hit way too close to home and she had been desperate for something to take the edge off. It hadn't helped that she'd encountered a senior student with the exact same intentions as her though and they'd both promised to keep each other's secrets.

 

“And so guys I expect you all to read the next two chapters by Wednesday, we’ll go over it all in class then. Have a good rest of the day guys, and thanks for being such a pleasure to teach.”

 

Maddie glanced into the classroom and watched as class concluded with a series of “goodbye Mr Manawa”s. All of the students gathered their books and laptops into their arms and the blonde smiled at her partner. She stood back as twenty or so teenagers pushed past her before she slipped into the classroom. 

 

“Babe,” she announced, a smile on her face, as she strolled toward his desk at the front of the room, her high heels tapping tunefully against the ground. She was dressed in a tight, form fitting pair of trousers, a white button down blouse, and she had a blazer hanging over one of her arms. “We better be off, we only have a few hours before they're all going to wonder where we are.”

 

Considering that classes for Travis finished at 12:30 that day and that Maddie hadn't booked any students for appointments later than 12:00, the pair had decided to hit the local shopping mall that afternoon in order to gather up some presents for the kids. Christmas was in about twenty days and the fact that Maddie still hadn't bought her children anything was honestly not a good thing.

 

“Okay, I'm just saving this document. We have plenty of time to get to the shop, have lunch, and then do the shopping.” He paused, looking alarmed as he suddenly realised that the pair weren't alone in the classroom. “You just called me babe, didn't you?”

 

“Yeah, babe, are you shocked? Don't I call you that all the time?” She rose an eyebrow, highly confused. 

 

“You do, but look, Tobias is in here, he shouldn't see us talking like this.”

 

“Come on, he must already know.” 

 

Maddie knew that practically everyone at the school knew about their relationship, and due to the fact that it wasn't an affair or a fling, she wasn't worried at all. Travis on the other hand, though, was always concerned about what people would think of him if they found out, mostly because workplace relationships were an unwritten no at their school.

 

Just as Maddie was about to query Tobias, the boy looked up from the binder he was filling with papers, at his teacher and counsellor. “Mr Manawa just go ahead and kiss her, I've known about you and Ms C for ages.”

 

Travis blushed and Maddie grinned, “thanks Tobias. Your English teacher is very, very shy.”

 

“Stop being rude,” her boyfriend murmured before being cut off by her lips. “And you've been smoking, haven't you?”

 

She rolled her eyes, “don't like it, don't kiss me.”

 

“Very well then,” he paused. “It's not actually that bad, I think I'm used to it now.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“So where to for lunch?” Maddie queried as they parked their car, a Toyota Camry, in the shopping mall’s parking lot. “I'm actually frickin’ starvin’.”

 

Travis shrugged, “they have that nice cafe in the food court, we could share a foccacia and a bowl of fries.”

 

“That sounds good, I've missed you today.” She squeezed her partner’s hand as they walked along, side by side. 

 

“Tough morning, Angel?”

 

“I suppose, I'm just tired, you know.”

 

“Yeah, I know. I think your job’s probably a rough one, you tend to see the worst situations, we have Christmas soon. We’re going to spend it as a family, it's going to be amazing.” He found himself pulling her close to him, his arms holding her body against his chest.

 

“I'm just fuckin’ sick of it, I just need to spend some time with you.” Her southern accent was strong as she turned to glance at him. She took in his features, he was a goddamn handsome man. He was of Maori descent, and his mother had supposably been born in New Zealand, although he rarely ever discussed his past. He spoke in an American accent but occasionally, usually after a heap of convincing from her, he put on a damn good New Zealand accent. It sounded strange but she liked it, and in actual fact, it turned her on a great deal.

 

His skin was chocolate brown, a lot darker than her pale white flesh, and his soft black hair fell in a mass of curls atop his head. She was in love with every inch of him, even his slight tummy pudge and serious lack of a six pack.

 

“Well that's what we're doing now. We’re going to spend some time together, I can’t have my beautiful girl looking sad.” He reached out and gently stroked his partner’s cheek.

 

“Well aren't you amazing, I would like to stay and talk but I'm so goddamn starving that I would honestly die if I don't get some food.”

 

He grabbed her hand tightly, “well we can't have that either, can we? Off to the food court we go.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“This better?” Travis Manawa asked as soon as he was sitting down across from Maddie at one of the little tables. He watched as his partner scoffed a focaccia at record speed and proceeded to wash it down with a sip of whatever was in her bottle. They'd been together for about five years and by this point in their relationship he knew that her water bottle was very rarely filled with water.

 

“Hell yes, I can think now, my stomach is no longer growling.” She pushed a chip seductively between her red lips and grinned. “Thanks for lunch babe.”

 

“That's fine,” the man chuckled. “I can't have you going hungry.” He paused and took a bite out of his own focaccia, “where are we going first to get presents?”

 

The blonde shrugged, “yeah I'm not too sure. I know I'm gettin’ them all iTunes cards and that the girls are really into that Lush cosmetic brand, you know with the bath bombs and all that shit? We can pick up some of that, some cheap makeup kits or something too, and maybe a TV show box set for Nick, he said he wanted to see Downton Abbey.”

 

Travis nodded. Despite Alicia and Nick not being his biological kids, he still liked to think of himself as their father. He loved the both of them, probably more than their real father had, given some of the stories Maddie had recounted and he wanted to ensure that he gave them the best possible Christmas. “I like your thinking and I also heard Nick mentioning Walking Dead action figures or something, supposedly all four want a couple of them but they cost too much. As for Alicia, one time when we were both home alone together, which is a rarity, I remember her talking about how she really likes the sound of vinyl, and I've decided that I want to get her a record player and maybe a couple of vinyls.”

 

“Shit! You are really thoughtful,” Maddie chuckled as she glanced at her lover. “I like that record player idea as well, even though I just don't get why all the young people are getting back into vinyl. I remember it being a goddamn pain in the ass.”

 

“Yeah, I wasn't a huge fan either. I like my music on my iPhone, thank you very much.” He sipped his takeout coffee cup and rose an eyebrow, “Chris keeps complaining about his camera, the software is supposably out of date, so maybe we can get him a new one.”

 

“Well all I know is I'm sure our bank account’s gonna be running on empty after this shopping trip.”

 

Travis sighed, “it’s Christmas, Maddie, we’re not millionaires but I think it's important we have a memorable day.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

The first stop on their shopping trip was Lush. They entered the small shop, hand in hand, and were immediately overcome by the strongest of aromas.

 

“Damn,” Maddie murmured to Travis. “How bloody strong can a smell be?”

 

“It is a bit pungent,” the teacher laughed softly as he watched his girlfriend screw her face up in disgust.

 

A woman approached the pair, a large smile on her face. “Hello and welcome to Lush, is there anything that I could help you with today?”

 

Travis smiled back, “myself and my partner are shopping for our children and a couple of family friends and we were wondering what you'd suggest.”

 

“Well it depends on how old they are.”

 

“Our daughter is seventeen,” Travis replied and Maddie found herself smiling at his use of ‘our’. She loved that he thought of her children as his as well. She knew that too many single mothers fell for men who weren't at all interested in being fathers, but not Travis. He loved both her babies and she knew that he'd probably take a bullet for either one of them. “And we have a nineteen year old son, as well as a two girls, twenty four and twenty five, that we’re also getting a gift for.”

 

The saleswoman nodded thoughtfully, “well that pretty much leaves your options open to most of the store’s products. Also everything here is pretty suitable to both genders, which is great. I can show you some of the Christmas gift packs if you'd like?”

 

Maddie nodded, “that'd be great, thanks.”

 

The young lady proceeded in showing off a variety of stock and the pair settled for a Christmas gift pack for all four of the young adults. They also purchased a variety of different bath bombs and soaps, and Travis’ insisted that they bought a bath bomb to try out together.

 

“That'll be three hundred and seventy four dollars fifty,” the cashier announced.

 

Maddie grimaced slightly and slid her credit card into the EFTPOS machine. “I told you we’re going to go broke,” she laughed as she tapped in her pincode.

 

X-X-X-X

 

Soon after they left Lush the couple entered an electronics and entertainment store. Maddie turned to Travis, they were both clutching large Lush bags. “So we’re looking for a record player for Alicia and a camera for Chris?” she asked.

 

“Yeah I suppose, I had a look online during class this morning and you can get both of those things fairly reasonably priced.”

 

“Okay then, let's grab an employee or something and ask what they recommend.” 

 

Maddie proceeded in calling a young, thin redheaded man over. He grinned, said hello, and introduced himself as John. “What could I possibly help you two with today?” he asked politely. 

 

“My partner and I were thinking of getting our daughter a record player for Christmas and we weren't sure which one,” Maddie began as she gave Travis’ hand a squeeze. “Do you have any in particular that you'd recommend.

 

“Ahh, vinyl.” John beamed, “you've come to right guy. I'm a huge fan myself, I think it's just something about the sound. I'd suggest this for a first record player, it's a nice slim size and it comes in a variety of colours.” He showed them to a smallish device. “And it's not overly heavy either, so if you're going to be carrying it around for a bit it's not going to be too much if a hassle.”

 

“What do you think?” Travis turned to his girlfriend curiously.

 

“Babe I just realised that I don't even know my daughter's favourite colour.”

 

Travis shook his head, “that's what you have me for. I think we should get her the lavender record player.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

A good hour and well over six hundred dollars later Maddie and Travis found themselves seated on one of the sofas in the in the walkway outside of the shop fronts. Madison cuddled against her boyfriend, her head nestled against his chest, and his arms were affectionately wrapped around her, while the shopping bags were messily strewn at their feet.

 

The blonde let out a swift yawn and ran her fingers over her man’s cleanly shaven chin. “Now I think we did a good job, we got something for everyone and we’re only sorta half broke instead of entirely bankrupt.”

 

Travis grinned, her fingers felt oddly good against his face. “I agree, but we need to spoil them Mads, before long they’re gonna be adults and have their own families.”

 

She nodded, “well isn't that why we’re still trying? I know I'm old and that the odds are against me, but I would love to have your baby, Trav.”

 

“Maybe someday,” he stroked her thigh gently. “Nothing's impossible.”

 

Madison nodded slowly as she glanced around the mall. Suddenly a store caught her eye, ‘Karine’s Intimates’. She turned to Travis, “we've spent a hell of a lot of money on everyone else, how about we spend some on us as well?”

 

“How are you implying we do…” He stopped talking as he realised where she was staring, “are you serious?”

 

“As serious as I'll ever be.” She stood up and grabbed her boyfriend by the hand, pulling him to his feet. “You can pick me out whatever you'd like.”

 

He looked at her, a small grin forming on his face, “anything?”

 

“Yeah,” she paused and looked at him suggestively. “But the raunchier the better and, babe, I do like crotchless…”


	6. Chapter 6

Day 6 - the 6th of December: The Ice Rink 

 

“Hey man! It's great to see you.” Nick declared as he stepped out of the 1990 something Toyota Camry he had been driving, and waved his younger step-brother over to the car.

 

“Nick!” Chris’ face immediately lit up as he hurried over to the other boy. His jet black hair was tied into a messy man bun and he was clothed in a grey t-shirt and a pair of torn jeans. “I didn't think you'd be picking me up, I thought dad was coming.”

 

“He was busy with something at the school and he asked me to go grab you instead, you don't mind do you?”

 

Chris had been invited to go ice skating with Nick, Alicia, Ofelia and Luciana a couple of weeks earlier and after a lot of whining on Travis’ behalf, Liza, Chris’ mother, finally allowed her son to be picked up from school by his father. From there he was to be taken home, be driven to the ice rink, and then he'd be dropped off at school the next morning by Travis.

 

“No way, it's cool.” Chris quickly gave Nick a high five and grinned. At first, the boy hadn't liked his step family at all, constantly acting disrespectful and moody around both them and his father. He presumed that that was because of his mom constantly badmouthing them around him at home, she in particular despised Madison, his dad’s new girlfriend, and had no problem calling her ‘the blonde slut with the booze problem’. Over time, though, Chris had come to see them in a different light. Nick was all he'd ever dreamed of back when he was a child and had wished for an older brother and Alicia was a great big sister and considering that she was super smart he'd always go to her for homework advice. He loved Maddie as well, though not as much as his mom, and he knew that she was a bit screwed up but that she was still a good person at heart. She had always made the effort to help him feel included in his new family, and Chris supposed that she was good at this because of her job as a counsellor.

 

“Well great then, we better be getting home. I'm sure the girls are already getting changed.”

 

Chris grinned, “duh! Don't they take forever to get ready all the time?”

 

Nick chuckled, “toss your bag in the back seat man and then we’ll be off. I know you like Drake so I stole a CD from Alicia.”

 

“Hey look it's CHRIS!” a voice suddenly called out.

 

Nick watched as the smile disappeared from Chris’ face and as he cast his eyes over the ground.

 

“He must be gay, look that's his boyfriend!” The person behind the insults suddenly stepped toward the car, a smug grin on his face. He looked to be a typical jock type, with the neat brown hair and the expensive looking clothes, and standing behind him was a group of guys. “Cat got your tongue?”

 

Chris was blushing as red as a beetroot by this point. He glanced up at the boy, his eyes hiding behind strands of hair, “he's actually my brother.”

 

“Well he looks nothing like your old man,” he paused before his grin widened. “Oh that's right, he must be your stepbrother, I totally forgot your dad has a thing about screwing white women.”

 

By this point Nick couldn't take the insults anymore. He stepped toward the boy, “fuck off, man. Just get lost, what the hell did Chris do to you?”

 

The boy tilted his head to the side and laughed, “just the fact that the little piece of shit actually exists is bad enough. He's not even your real brother, you honestly gonna defend him?”

 

“Of course I'm going to defend him,” Nick spat angrily. “Just because he's not my biological brother it doesn't mean that I'm going to let posh little pricks like you be complete asses toward him. You, and all your dumbass little cronies, should leave my brother the hell alone unless you want me to come back another time and not be as willing to reason.”

 

The boy shrugged, “no need to get so angry… Chris, he's my bro, we make fun of each other all the time.”

 

Nick groaned, “just cut the crap man and leave him the fuck alone, you understand?”

 

The boy nodded and stepped back into the small crowd that had gathered around. 

 

Nick rolled his eyes and let himself into the car. He strapped himself into the driver’s seat and turned to face the younger boy. 

 

“Thanks man, I think you actually scared Joshua and his guys. You didn't need to do that, you know?”

 

The older boy turned the key in the ignition, “no ‘thank-you’s needed man. How long’s that piece of shit been giving you grief?”

 

“Since elementary school I suppose, he's just a jerk and dad’s always told me to ignore jerks.”

 

That was a very different approach to the one his own mother had taken while he was growing up. Numerous times Maddie had stormed into the classroom, a sea of profanities would fly and she would give just about anyone, student or teacher alike, a piece of her mind. In hindsight Nick supposed it wasn't the most appropriate way to deal but when had his mother ever been appropriate? He had always seen this protective ‘momma bear’ side to her come out during those altercations and despite knowing about what she was going through at home, he respected that fact that she still had enough inner strength to stick up for her children. “Well I think I needed to give him a piece of my mind, someone needed to put him in his place.”

 

Chris nodded and slid the Drake CD into the CD player. “Nick, do you really think of me as your brother?”

 

“Of course I do man, you'll always be my bro.”

 

And that was probably why Chris liked spending time with his dad’s family, they all loved to make him feel wanted.

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Mom, Travis, we're home!” Nick declared as he threw the front door open and stepped inside, Chris in tow.

 

Chris peered at the sofa, on which his dad was seated with a stack of papers on his lap and Madison curled up to his side. She had one hand on his thigh and was stroking his cheek with the other one, a contented smile on her dark red lips.

 

They were a bizarrely touchy feely couple, Chris decided, and he doubted that they even knew what personal space was. It had been very different back when his dad and his mom were together. They'd share the occasional greeting kiss but not much more, and he didn't even think he could remember a time when they had been anywhere near as brazenly intimate as his dad now was with Maddie. 

 

“Hey Chris,” Maddie said in her distinct southern accent as she gave him a quick wave. “Did Nick find you all okay?”

 

“Yep, he was great and he even brought a CD in the car that he knew I'd like.”

 

Travis nodded and stood up, “hey buddy, how about giving your old dad a hello hug? I haven't seen you in ages.”

 

Chris rolled his eyes but happily enough stepped into his father’s hug. “What are you two doing?”

 

“I'm trying to do some work,” Travis began as he released his son and sat himself back down on the sofa, and pulled Maddie back close to him. “Except Maddie’s being a bit of a distraction.”

 

The blonde playfully slapped her lover softly on the cheek, “Chris don't listen to your father, he's quite the liar.”

 

Chris chuckled, “I don't know if I believe you.”

 

Maddie grinned playfully. “Rude! Travis how did you raise such a rude boy?” 

 

“When are you guys going to the ice rink?” Travis queried.

 

“Soon, we have to go see if the girls are ready first though.” Nick replied.

 

The blonde turned to her son, “baby just make sure you send us a text or something before you come home, so that we have a heads up.”

 

“You just don't want us to come home and find you two in a questionable position.” Nick replied with a snide grin.

 

“You're rude too! I can't go blaming Travis when I have a just as derogatory son of my own.” Maddie grinned and stood up before she embraced her son tightly. “I think you might be right though…”

 

Both Chris and Nick shared a knowing glance. “Sorry to break up this random hug but Chris and I are just going to go check up on what the girls are doing.” He beckoned his step brother over, “let's go man, then these two can get back to couch cuddling.”

 

“I think you mean grading essays.” Travis acknowledged the papers strewn forgotten in his lap.

 

“No, we mean couch cuddling, Travis.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Guys can we come in?” Nick asked as he hammered lightly against Alicia and Ofelia’s door. “Chris is here and we’ve already put our warmer clothes on.”

 

The older boy had grabbed a large sweater and some jeans along with a pair of earmuffs that looked a bit too fluffy to be made for men and a large scarf. He'd leant the younger one an oversized coat, a scarf and a beanie and they'd both gotten changed in Nick and Luciana’s room.

 

“Seriously Nick, just come in, I think we’re mostly dressed.” Alicia called back as she unlocked the door and pushed it open. 

 

“Hey Chris,” Ofelia was the first to greet their honorary squad member. She was dressed in a trench coat, black skinny jeans, a woolen scarf and a chic beanie. 

 

“Hey ‘Felia, love your outfit.” Chris replied with a smile. 

 

“Thanks man, Alicia was mocking my hat.”

 

“Was not!” The Clark girl rolled her eyes and grinned at her stepbrother. She was wearing a black leather jacket, red silk scarf and tightly denim pants. “I'm so happy you could make it.”

 

“So am I,” Chris shook his head. “I honestly thought that mom wasn't going to let me get away with it. I don't quite know why but she's not a huge fan of letting me stay with you guys.”

 

“Negative influences I presume!” Ofelia pulled her long chestnut hair into a messy bun.

 

“How was your day anyway?” Luciana glanced over at Chris. She was clothed in a purple parka and was completed her outfit with some jeans and chunky boots.

 

“Fine, a bit boring to tell the truth.”

 

“Some guys were giving Chris some shit at pick up and I gave them a piece of my mind.” Nick piped in, eager to recount his heroic actions.

 

Ofelia snorted and rolled her eyes. “So you yelled at some fifteen year olds, bloody spectacular.” 

 

“He was actually really quite great.” Chris glanced at his stepbrother, “thanks again man.”

 

Nick beamed. “Anytime!”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Fifteen dollars an hour, EACH, for skate rental.” Nick declared begrudgingly whilst clutching five pairs of skates.

 

Alicia continued absentmindedly swinging her legs back and forth of the bench she was seated on, “we’ll probably only be here for a couple of hours. It's getting late anyway and Travis said he is cooking something special for dinner.”

 

“And guys I honestly need to watch some Netflix with you, maybe more Gilmore Girls?” Considering that Liza refused to foot the bill for a Netflix account for her son, the only way that a Chris was able to binge watch trashy shows was with his stepfamily.

 

Ofelia looked up from the boot that she was unzipping, “yeah of course, I still don't get how you even live with Netflix.”

 

Luciana nodded. “I know right, I didn't even know about it until I moved in with you all and know I'm hooked.” 

 

Nick finished lacing up his skate, “well you're spending Christmas with us right? You'll get to watch your fair share then.”

 

“Nick or anyone, I need some help.” Alicia whined, “I don't know quite how to get these goddamn skates on.”

 

Ofelia rolled her eyes, “you really are quite the drama queen Leeshy.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

A good ten minutes, and a stack of complaints, later the five staggered away from the seats and toward the ice rink.

 

“It's like impossible to walk on the ground in these things, imagine how hard it's going to be on the ice.” Luciana sighed and glanced down at her feet. She'd never skated before and to admit the truth, she was ever so slightly terrified.

 

Alicia laid her hand on her almost sister in law's shoulder. “It's not that hard Luci, you'll get the hang of it hella quickly and it'll be okay. You want me to skate slowly next to you?”

 

“That'd be amazing, thanks Leesh.”

 

“Can I skate with you guys as well?” Chris rose an eyebrow, “I'm a really shit skater.”

 

Alicia laughed, “yeah sure, I'm actually hopeless as hell myself.”

 

“Last one on the ice is a rotting corpse!” Ofelia suddenly cried as she pushed against Nick and started running toward the rink.

 

Nick upped his speed and began to chase after the brunette. “Not so fast Ofelia, you haven't won yet.”

 

Luciana grinned, “I take it all three of us are rotting corpses then.”

 

Alicia grimaced, “I can smell the decay already.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Slow down you ass, you almost knocked out that old woman!” Ofelia declared as she skated alongside Nick. It was always a competition when the two of them did anything together, and that seemed to include skating. The brunette’s ex junkie friend seemed to like showing off, and as they skated along the ice, he seemed to be spontaneously creating a figure skating routine.

 

“Well I didn't, did I? Granny’s still going strong and you just don't want to admit that I'm a better skater than you!” The boy flicked his hair in way reminiscent of a teen movie bitch and proceeded in doing a perfect spin. “Beat that.”

 

“Oh I'm sure I can, but you'll have to catch me first.” Ofelia stuck her tongue out and began to skate rapidly, legs moving in and out, as she raced across the ice. 

 

“It is on!” Nick called out suddenly and watched as Ofelia gave him a well manicured middle finger from across the sea of people.

 

X-X-X-X

 

“So you just move your legs, one at a time, sorta like you're walking.” Alicia began slowly. Both herself and Chris had decided to show Luciana the ropes when it came to ice skating.

 

The Mexican girl let a small yelp as she stumbled and tightened her grasp on the walking support frame that novice skaters were supposed to use. “I'm okay, this is so hard guys.”

 

“Copy my feet,” Chris announced. “You see if my feet go forward, you put your’s forward...slowly...yeah like that! That's it! You're doing it!”

 

Luciana’s eyes widened and without thinking she threw her hands up in triumph before she realised that she was no longer clutching the frame. She slipped suddenly and landed on her rear, “oww!” she declared with a laugh, “my butt, I think it's frozen.”

 

Alicia chuckled and reached down in order to attempt to support her friend. “Now that woulda hurt, are you okay?”

 

“Yeah I'm fine, it was just a shock.”

 

“Well at least we know that you can understand how to move your legs,” Chris decided. “Next time you just need to remember to keep holding on.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

About two hours later the five slightly tired out kids stumbled out of the ice arena and began a trek toward the car.

 

“I'm just gonna text mom, okay guys?” Alicia pulled her phone out of her pocket and unlocked it.

 

“Great, we don't need to walk in on them.” Nick screwed up his face in disgust.

 

Ofelia chuckled, “they honestly need to learn to get a room.”

 

“My feet are aching like anything!” Luciana said with a groan.

 

“I know the feeling,” Chris laughed. “And I have to text my mom myself, she wants to know exactly what I get up to.”

 

“Well for all of our benefit please make sure you don't tell her we’re going to watch TV all night.”

 

“Don't worry Nick,” Chris shook his head. “I'm not that stupid.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this is a bit shorter than usual. I've had quite the Internet struggles today and I had to really rush to get this little bit written! Hope you enjoy!

Day 7 - the 7th of December: The Lights

 

“Babe, I honestly don't want you up on the roof like that.” Madison Clark called as she strolled out of the front door to her small suburban LA home. She lit a cigarette that was held between her lips and glanced up at the roof. “And I don't like my little girl being up there either.

 

Both Alicia and Travis were standing on the roof clutching a big ball of Christmas lights. Her daughter was wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses and her boyfriend was clutching a staple gun.

 

“Honestly mom, I'm fine, and so is Travis!” Alicia replied with an eye roll. “And I'm sure that that cigarette is gonna kill you faster than Christmas lights will kill us.”

 

“Go away, at least I don't run the risk of plummeting to my death.” She paused, cigarette between her fingers, and grinned, “but Trav, I must admit that you look hot as hell with that staple gun in your hands.”

 

“Gross!” Nick suddenly approached, Luciana and Ofelia following closely behind. “Stop acting so bloody pervy!”

 

“She's my partner, she can perv on me if she'd like.” Travis joked from the roof. “Alicia pass me the second string of lights please.”

 

“Where did you three come from?” Maddie asked Nick curiously.

 

“We were just around the front Maddie,” Ofelia began. “We were tying some ribbons around the trees just over there.” She pointed to a couple of trees just out near the sidewalk on which large messy red ribbons had been tied.

 

“And I was stringing some tinsel up on the front gate,” Luciana grinned and squeezed Nick’s hand. Maddie wasn't entirely sure why but over the past few weeks Luciana had been acting a little off. She seemed a bit tired and deflated but no one else in the family seemed to have realised.

 

“Great,” the blonde dropped her cigarette and stamped it out with her boot. “You guys want a drink, maybe a beer or a coke or something? It's getting a bit hot out here.”

 

She watched as Alicia and Travis consulted quietly between themselves. Alicia waved down at her. “Mom, we’d both like a can of coke.”

 

“Yeah, I'd like a ginger beer please. One of those in the glass bottles.” Nick announced.

 

“Just a glass of water for me,” replied Luciana.

 

Ofelia tilted her head to the side, “I'm gonna be controversial and ask for a beer.”

 

“Done, done, done and done!” Madison pointed to everyone in turn, “I'll just duck inside and grab ‘em all.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Maddie, Angel, I'm all sweaty, don't.” Travis pulled away as his slightly horny girlfriend proceeded in slipping her hands under his black cotton t-shirt, which was damp with sweat.

 

“Shhh…” she pressed her fingers to his lips. “You think I'm the type of woman who is turned off by a bit of sweat?”

 

“I know you're not but I feel all dirty and I want to have a shower…”

 

“Aren't you a fricken sweetie,” she slowly pulled her black t-shirt over her head and unclasped her black lace bra, letting her two large breasts bounce freely. “How about if we were to have a shower together?”

 

“Now I don't mind the sound of that.”

 

“I know,” she proceeded in tugging her black skinny jeans down her legs to reveal her slightly thick thighs and a pair of black panties, which were soon removed to expose a mass of black pubic hairs. “How about we remove your sweaty clothes then?”

 

Travis found his eyes glued to his lover. He examined her pale flesh, slight stomach as well as the sea of scars that ran over her skin. They all differed slightly in size and colour and originated from all different places, some being from a bottle, blade and fist while others, old burn marks, came from an iron and boiling water. He remembered her recounting the stories, tears in her eyes, drunk off liquor and sadness. 

 

He also examined her tattoos, a mismatch of words and names over her skin. His own name was scrawled in large cursive font over her back, he had her name on his as well. She also had her children’s names on her ankle, a tiny scrawling of ‘you’ (directed at him, of course) under her left breast, a small heart on her wrist, and an ‘always’ on her forearm, he had a matching one. He glanced at her inner thigh, it was still bare, but he knew that she was planning on getting a Maori type design in honour of her partner’s heritage. 

 

“I think that sounds like a plan,” he replied as he shrugged the t-shirt over his shoulders, exposing his bare chest. It wasn't as though he was overly muscular, he was actually rather pudgy around his middle, but she liked that. He felt her hands gently stroke over his Maori stomach tattoo, her fingers brushed at the surface before they slid under the top of his jeans. Her hands rubbed at the hard bulge in his boxers, his erection growing with each small movement. 

 

He moaned as he allowed her to remove both his jeans and his briefs, and felt her cup his manhood in her palms. “Does that feel nice babe?” she whispered before she pressed her lips to his and slid her tongue into his mouth.

 

Travis nodded as he gently began to finger at her, feeling her damp moist depths. “Want to step into the shower?”

 

“No, the shower can wait,” she wrapped a leg around his waist and bit at his neck, her teeth hard against his skin. “I just want to spend a moment longer with you out here.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“How long do you think it would take for us all save up and afford some soundproofing in this house?” Alicia asked with a laugh.

 

“Way longer than it would take for mom and Travis to do that in every room about a billion times.” Nick rolled his eyes.

 

Luciana grimaced, “honestly though, they really must love each other.”

 

“They never stop though,” Ofelia groaned as she proceeded in continuing to stroke Peanut’s furry back. “I've never seen any two people do it as much as they do.”

 

Alicia shrugged, “but I've never seen another couple who love each other as much as they do either.”

 

Ofelia nodded, “yeah my parents were never as happy together as your mom is with Travis.”

 

Nick shook his head. He knew of the abuse she had endured at the hands of his father, he had seen her in pain, crying, broken. Travis loved her in a way Stephen never had, and he would tolerate a few sex noises if it meant that his mom was happy. “Yeah, mom loves him,” the boy began. “And I think that’s great.”


	8. Chapter 8

Day 8 - the 8th of December: The Paper Snowflakes

 

“Come on guys, it's simple.” Alicia began with a laugh as she waved a neatly folded paper snowflake around. Herself, her brother, bestie and almost sister in law, inspired by a pin Ofelia had shared on Pinterest, had all decided to try their hand at papercraft, more specifically, snowflake making. She watched as the other three young people fumbled at their sheets of paper, dumbfounded, and grinned. “Honestly, if you three don't get things going we’re not going to have enough snowflakes to decorate the house.”

 

Ofelia grimaced, despite her long hair being tied up in a ponytail a few strands seemed to have escaped and were cascading messily in front of her face. Alicia had met the other girl a couple of years earlier. She'd been shopping at a clothing store and had asked the salesgirl for help. As it turned out, the pair had more in common than clothing styles, and had spent a great deal of time chatting away about TV and music. They'd exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet up for coffee and their friendship had only strengthened since. Alicia considered Ofelia her closest friend in the world, and her almost sister, especially since she was practically part of the family. “Maybe to you Leeshy but I can't fathom how this bloody tutorial works for the life of me.”

 

“Me neither,” Nick laughed as he peered up from the iPad that he had been consulting ever so closely. 

 

Alicia loved her brother as well. She'd gone through a time when she'd resented him, resented his closeness to their mother, resented the stress he put the family through because of his addiction. Now, though, he had gotten clean and he was back to being the brother that she knew and loved. He was goofy, loud, ridiculous and a pain in the ass, but still the most caring, sweet, loving guy she'd ever met.

 

“I think I've sorta got it…” Luciana trailed off as she looked toward the younger girl for a nod of approval. “It's a bit lopsided but at least I've actually finished one.” she flashed her boyfriend a look of mock disapproval.

 

“Rude!” Nick screamed as he tossed his half completed snowflake down onto the wooden tabletop.

 

Suddenly, to the surprise of all four young adults, a kitten jumped up onto the table. They all watched as Peanut strolled casually across the surface toward Nick. She paused briefly, just long enough to sniff, paw and pounce on the messily folded disaster that the boy had just discarded.

 

“Oooh, I don't think Peanut approves of your folding.” Alicia laughed as she glanced affectionately at the kitten. In the past week they hadn't once received a phone call from the vet and, despite all four of them not getting their hopes up too high, they all had a pretty good feeling about their grey furry buddy. 

 

Ofelia nodded slowly, “now that cat has a good grasp on reality. She ain't taking none of yo shit, Nick.”

 

“I, for one, think she's adorable.” Luciana dropped her snowflake and proceeded in pulling Peanut into her arms. She pressed her lips to the top of the kitty’s fluffy head, “you think Nick’s silly, don't you? We all think Nick’s silly here.”

 

“What the hell is with all the Nick bashing?” the boy moaned begrudgingly. “Just because I can't fold it doesn't give the entire female population the right to mock me constantly.”

 

“What a sook!” Ofelia declared. “Toughen up princess.”

 

Nick chuckled, “hey, I might like being a princess.”

 

“Well, I coulda guessed it.” Alicia retorted. “With that flower crown on your head and all.”

 

Nick rolled his eyes and gently patted the purple and white flower crown that sat atop his mess of ratty brown hairs. “Now that flower crown is a look of pure style, all aesthetic and Tumblr worthy.” He paused and turned to Alicia, “sis, you for one should know. You don't have that beauty blog for nothing.”

 

Alicia and Ofelia had created a beauty blog on Tumblr together, known as ‘Pastels and Pallets’. It supplied the world with daily beauty posts, tutorials, product reviews and even personal snapshots into their day to day lives. They'd earned quite the fanbase, for no apparent reason, and even had ‘AlFelia’ shippers. 

 

“I am this house’s resident beauty guru,” she began whilst ignoring the loud ‘HEY’ that echoed from Ofelia’s direction. “And, honey, my instincts are telling you to take off that crown, IMMEDIATELY!”

 

“Rude, rude, rude,” Nick tutted before he turned to the kitten, who was still standing on the table. “Peanut do you like my crown?”

 

A sharp mew sounded and all four sets of eyes were suddenly glued on the cat.

 

“That was totally a yes,” Nick triumphed.

 

Ofelia rolled her eyes, “definitely a no.”

 

Luciana nodded, “sorry baby but I heard a no too.”

 

“Nick, it was a big loud hell no!”

 

“You three have no faith in the feline judge of style.” Nick reached out and gently patted Peanut, “in another life this small bean of fur could have been Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe.”

 

“Yeah sure Nick,” Ofelia groaned.

 

“Guys I want to get more of these done before mom and Travis get home from the store or wherever they are.” Alicia picked up a fresh sheet of paper and began to snip at it with a pair of large IKEA scissors. Her mother and her step dad were out and the brunette knew that if they didn't hurry up and finish the snowflakes they were all going to break for dinner and never get the job done.

 

“Fine, I think I'm sort of getting the hang of it.” Ofelia snipped carefully at the edge of her creation, working slowly in order to prevent her from making a mistake.

 

“Thank you, at least someone is helping me.”

 

Luciana glanced at the other brunette, “I'm helping too.”

 

Alicia laughed and turned to her brother. “I know that Luci, it's not you I'm blaming.”

 

“Rude!” Nick repeated for what felt like the millionth time. 

 

“I'd rather be rude than be you!” Alicia mocked.

 

Nick nudged his sister playfully. “Now that most definitely was rude!”


	9. Chapter 9

Day 9 - the 9th of December: The Memories (and the liquor)

 

Madison Clark let out a slow, exasperated sigh. It was always like this, she didn't even know why she thought that it would be any different. The days were fine, they offered ample distractions. She could put all her focus into being a mom, a girlfriend, a counsellor. It was the nights that ached, when she felt overcome with hopelessness. Post sex, she was sure he was fast asleep, cuddled in the sheets in their bed. She wished that she was him, that she wasn't an insomniac, that she didn't fear falling asleep due to the nightmares that plagued her, that she didn't constantly crave a synthetic, booze filled high.

 

She threw her head back, her thick dyed blonde curls falling in messy waves, and held a bottle to her lips. With a swift tilt its contents drained into her mouth, a sharp, warm, familiar burn playing at the back of her throat. The vodka tasted good, fucking amazing, and it helped her forget. Helped her to lose track of the world around her. She got blackout drunk most nights, she'd keep drinking, glass after glass, until she suddenly felt nothing. 

 

It might have been slightly embarrassing the number of times her children had found their mommy out cold, bottle clutched in her hand, but Maddie couldn't help it. She tried so hard, so fucking hard, to be strong for them and sometimes the use of all that strength took a hell of a lot out of her. 

 

She was an angry drunk sometimes, she knew that, but she made sure that she never took it out on her children. She'd snapped at them in the past, yelled at them while the liquor clouded her better judgement, but never once had she laid a hand on them. She wasn't her father, she wasn't their father, and the last thing she wanted was to become either of them.

 

The woman absentmindedly glanced across the room toward the large Christmas tree that was positioned between a pair of couches. Fairy lights glistened like tiny rainbow orbs and paper snowflakes dangled from the roof. Her mind was swirling with the liquor, she was already on her second bottle. She knew that the Christmas decorations were supposed to make her feel warm, happy, festive but all they did was make her want to down another bottle. She felt cold, detached and more like the heartless sociopath she constantly pretended not to be. The memories were too much, and at that moment she would rather have ended it quickly than be forced to relieve them again. 

 

Christmas. A time her children loved to relate to family, carols and presents. She knew both Nick and Alicia adored it. They loved getting into the spirit of things, decorating the house, shaking the gifts under the tree. Her boyfriend loved it as well, he was a sweet man who would rather cuddle up with a mug of hot cocoa than a bottle of stiff liquor. In other words, he was nothing like her. 

 

She hated it herself. The reindeers, Santa Claus, the songs, the season. They reminded her of him, tormented the inner six year old still within her. The sight of a Christmas display in a department store didn't trigger the happy memories it did for most, it reminded her of her father. She suddenly remembered herself as a tiny child, no more than eight or nine, she pictured his hands slipping under her skirt. Touching her, tainting her, ridding her over and over of her innocence. Just the thought of him shook her to core, she remembered wanting to die, remembered running blades over her skin, remembered the first time she drank herself blind.

 

A shiver ran down Madison’s spine. She reached for the bottle and took a series of consecutive sips. She downed the liquid rapidly as if the quick succession could help the process grow faster. Maybe she should talk it out. She'd never talked anything out properly before, she wasn't a talking kind of woman. She was good at keeping things bottled up so tightly that they never saw the light of day.

 

“Can we get a Christmas tree?”

 

She remembered the hopeful look that had filled her youthful face as she asked her father for a Christmas tree. She also remembered the look that she had gotten in return, the look that had been accompanied by glazed over eyes and a raised fist. He'd hit her, over and over, his fists like solid metal against her smooth, young skin. 

 

“Greedy bitch, fucking greedy bitch.”

 

He had spat the words in the most hate filled manner possible. He'd insisted that she needed to be punished, that greedy bitches deserved to be punished. He'd taken a belt to her that day, removed her dress, and continued to lash the leather strip against her flesh. It had dug deep, leaving a bloodied cavern across her tiny back. Tears streamed down her cheeks, she cried out for him to stop, he didn't. He never did.

 

Her hands were still shaking as she managed to down the final dregs of the second bottle. She paused and slid her hand under the the cotton shirt that was pulled around her form. She was naked aside from her partner’s shirt. Her back was smooth and cold beneath her fingertips, yet the rough marks from that night all those years ago still remained. They weren't red anymore, more of a silver, yet they were still evident. A sharp crisscross form of branding.

 

She stood up and stumbled. Damn, the liquor was doing its thing. Once she had steadied herself using the table, she shuffled slowly toward the liquor cabinet. Madison pried a large bottle of Scotch from between a mess of other bottles. The lid came off and she held it to her lips, swallowing mouthful after mouthful.

 

“Fucking bitch, fucking greedy bitch.”

 

Suddenly she saw him standing before her. This time it wasn't her father, it was her first husband. They were the same, the same misogynistic, abusive, narcissists. 

 

He was furious, completely and utterly, after finding the receipts from the Christmas shopping she had done that day. She remembered entering the kitchen and finding him standing there, a look of pure rage on his face.

 

“But it was for the children, they deserve a good Christmas. Come on Stephen, they still believe in fucking Santa Claus.”

 

“Are you that goddamn stupid, money doesn't grow on trees.”

 

With no warning he'd thrown the coffee cup he had been holding. She remembered feeling it burn into the flesh of her arm. The excruciating pain of the boiling liquid scalding her. She'd cowered, cradling her arm to her chest, and that was when he'd gone in for the second hit. He'd slapped her across the face, shocking her back to reality, before he began to bash at her over and over. Each fist making her want to die, making her wish that she wasn't a mother, that she could just slip one too many sleeping pills into her mouth and drift away effortlessly.

 

She'd retreated to the bathroom in order to discover just how extensive her injuries were. Her left eye was red and puffy, and she knew that it was sure to bruise by the next day. She wiped some blood from her nose with the back of her hand and winced as she peered at her arm. The skin, obviously having been burnt, was a mess of red. She knew that it was serious and that she should definitely go to the ER but she couldn't. She would have to explain it, she'd lied enough, and she couldn't go around saying that her husband beat her. She imagined his reaction, and deep inside she knew that it wouldn't just be her being punished, it would be her babies as well. He couldn't hurt them, he could do anything to her as it long as it didn't involve them.

 

Another sip of the Scotch and she found her eyes cast over her right inner forearm. The skin was scarred lightly, despite the incident having occurred years prior, the severity of the burn meant that it lived on. She stroked it, her thin fingers ran along the surface, and she felt a single tear run down her cheek.

 

After the bathroom, she'd put some ice on her arm and wrapped it in a bandage. She couldn't go back and try to reason with him again, at that moment she wanted to just fucking die. She wasn't sleeping in her bed that night, she couldn't have that monster next to her.

 

Her baby had been awake when she had slipped into his room. He'd been nestled under the duvet, a sea of plush animals surrounding him, with his big blue eyes wide. She'd slipped in beside him and pulled him to her chest. For what seemed like forever she had just lay there crying, holding him, until he had turned to her.

 

“Mommy, I want daddy to go away.”

 

The words had shocked her, surprised her. She should have told him that daddy loves him, or not to say mean things, but instead she had just looked at her son, her eyes filled with tears.

 

“Baby, I want daddy to go away, too.”

 

With the next sip of her Scotch she suddenly remembered holding the phone to her ear, hearing the ambulance officer, having to fake a tear stifled voice.

 

“Mrs Clark we regret to inform you that your husband was in an accident. There was nothing anyone could do, he died on impact, but we can assure you that he didn't feel any pain.”

 

Fuck. I wish it was long and painful. I wanted him to feel what I felt.

 

She had staged it, orchestrated it, arranged it. It had worked, they had thought that it was a suicide. And suddenly she was no longer a mother, she was a killer, and it didn't even phase her.

 

Finally the third bottle was empty and as she peered up across the room, back toward the Christmas tree, she realised that everything was a blur. Her eyes were damp with tears and the alcohol coursing throughout her was making her feel light headed.

 

“I fucking hate Christmas.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

Travis Manawa approached the table, it was still dark outside and he was sure that it was around three in the morning. He peered at his girlfriend, awkwardly asleep on the table. He also noticed the empty bottles beside her. It broke his heart, but what could he do?

 

She looked oddly beautiful, at peace, as she slept, yet he still wanted to move her. He wanted her to wake up in their bed that next morning. 

 

He scooped her into his arms and carefully carried her toward the bedroom. She smelt of liquor, cigarette smoke and an odd sense of sadness. She smelt like a woman who had given up and he couldn't have that.

 

He wanted her to wake up in their bed that next morning. He wanted her to wake up feeling warm, safe and protected. He wanted her to wake up knowing that she was loved.


	10. Chapter 10

Day 10 - the 10th of December: the #Photoshoot

 

“So guys what are you all doing?” Nick Clark suddenly called out as he hurried into his younger sister’s room. He peered at the ground, where Alicia, Ofelia and Luciana were all gathered, cross legged, watching a MacBook screen intently.

 

“Sons of Anarchy, Nick.” The brunette laughed before she patted the ground beside her. “Come, watch.”

 

The girls were obsessed with the series. They'd seen it over and over and it never seemed to get old. Ofelia peered at her friend, “sit, Nicholas bloody Clark, we’re deep in the midst of season seven.”

 

Nick flopped himself down on the ground between his girlfriend and sister and focused his attention on the screen. “How much longer is this episode going to go for?”

 

“Why are you so eager?” Alicia rose an eyebrow inquisitively.

 

“Well I was sitting around on the sofa flicking through my Insta feed and I was seeing all these people I follow posting festive pics of their pets. It got me thinking girls, and I think we need to have a Christmas photoshoot with Peanut.”

 

Luciana smiled, the tiny kitten was presently fast asleep in her lap. “I quite like that idea, we could take the pictures in front of the Christmas tree.”

 

Ofelia eagerly glanced at the others. “And I think there's some Santa hats in Alicia and my room that we could wear in the photo.”

 

“Oh and there's this tiny doll Christmas hat I've had since I was a little girl that we might be able to put on Peanut’s head.” Alicia paused the episode on her laptop.

 

“You really know how to piss off cats, don't you Leeshy?” Ofelia nudged her friend playfully.

 

“But Peanut would look fricken adorable with that hat,” Nick stood up enthusiastically. “Let's do this!”

 

Alicia ran across the room and began to rifle through one of her dresser drawers. “I knew we had some hats,” she scooped out a few fluffy red hats. “One for you, one for you, one for your, and one for me.”

 

Luciana caught the hat in one hand and pulled it onto her head. “Can I have the first picture considering that I'm holding the fluff ball?”

 

“And since you're wearing the hat as well it only makes it easier.” Ofelia scooped her phone off of the carpet and waved it around slightly. “I'll be the photographer.”

 

Nick, who had adjusted a hat over his ratty brown locks on his own head, grinned at the trio of women. “Okay, awesome, but I place dibs on the second photo.”

 

“Me third!” Alicia declared.

 

Ofelia rolled her eyes, “I take it I'm last, then.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Okay Luciana, lift Peanut up a bit higher, just a bit more, careful! That hat’s gonna fall off.” Ofelia hollered as she peered at her friend and kitten through the screen of her iPhone’s camera app.

 

Luciana, hat still on her head, adjusted the tiny kitten in her embrace and grinned at the camera. 

 

“Okay, on cheese. Three, two, one, cheese!” Ofelia tapped her finger against the capture button on her phone.

 

Nick went next. He crouched himself before the Christmas tree, an array of flashing rainbow lights bouncing around behind him. He precariously placed Peanut on his head and smiled, a painfully cheesy grin, at his older brunette friend.

 

“Aargh!” Nick yelped as Peanut sprung off of his head and bounced down onto the ground. She turned to the ex junkie, a look of disgust on his face, and proceeded in cleaning her furry grey paws with her tongue. 

 

Alicia began to laugh, her face screwing up in pure joy as she examined the look of shock on her older brother’ face. “‘Felia, tell me you caught that on camera.”

 

Ofelia opened her camera roll, and nodded up at her friend. She spun her phone, to reveal the screen, and grinned. “I did!”

 

As it turned out, she had captured Peanut mid jump. Nick’s hair was a mess and his face was twisted up in fear. A mass of laughs echoed throughout the room and all the young adults decided that that was an amazing picture.

 

They continued snapping pictures. Alicia cuddled up to Peanut, a large smile on her face, before Nick offered to snap photo of Ofelia.

 

“We need a group shot,” Luciana suggested suddenly. “One that we can look at in like twenty years time and think ‘wow, we sure looked young once’.”

 

Ofelia tapped thoughtfully at the back of her phone, “but who's going to take it. It can't be your mom, because she's not home, and because she's not allowed to know about the cat.”

 

“What about Travis?” Alicia suggested. She knew her stepfather was out in the living room grading essays, or something boring like that, and he had already met Peanut.

 

Nick nodded. “Yeah, go grab him, Leesh. I'm sure he’ll be happy to help.” 

 

Alicia grinned, and a good five minutes later she dashed back into the room with Travis following closely behind.

 

The Maori English teacher grinned and glanced at the four young people. “Alicia says you need a photographer.”

 

Ofelia bounced over to his side, phone in hand. “Yeah, you are freaking amazing. We want to do a group shot with the cat and our Christmas hats and we need someone else to snap the picture.”

 

Travis took the phone and slid the camera open, “okay you four, bunch together.” He motioned with one of his hands for the group to get closer.

 

Nick stood at the back, considering he was the tallest. Ofelia latched onto one of his arms and Luciana latched onto the other. Alicia leaned against her best friend, Peanut held close to her chest. They all smiled as Travis counted down from three and watched as the shutter went off.

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Okay guys, it’s up on Instagram and I've tagged you all.” Nick laughed as he dropped his phone down onto the cushion beside him and grinned at all his female counterparts.

 

Alicia grinned, her eyes still cast down on her phone, “it looks adorable. Travis is quite the cameraman.”

 

“I love your tags,” Ofelia laughed. “Hashtag Peanut’s first Xmas!”

 

Luciana smiled, “and I'm sure it's going to be an amazing first Christmas.”

 

Nick pulled his girlfriend into his lap, “it most definitely is!”


	11. Chapter 11

Day 11 - the 11th of December: The Mistletoe

 

Madison Clark squeezed her eyes shut. Was it bad that she felt this contented? It was five thirty in the morning and she was seated at the kitchen table cradling a bottle of Vodka. It was already half empty, to make matters worse, and the taste of smoke still marred her tongue, considering that she had just put out a cigarette.

 

She examined her arm slowly as she sipped straight from the bottle. Her scars, despite how faded they had become, still danced around in the pale kitchen light. She began to trace them, running her finger over their outlines, trying to suppress the memories of where they had come from.

 

Vodka tasted great in the morning, she decided. She had always been one for the stuff drinks, the bottles with the high alcohol content. She could handle her liquor, in actual fact, she had out drunk a multitude of big burly men over her entire life. When you were as fucked up as Madison Clark drinking came easy, and you also didn't have the time of day for weak, frivolous drinks.

 

She was an alcoholic, a functioning one, but one nonetheless. She'd been hooked on the drink for, rapidly approaching, forty years and not once had she ever considered stopping. In a perfect reality she knew that she wouldn't be living for the drink, holding on, day after day, only for the bottle. It would be nice to be happy and sober, to live out a life she'd never come close to, but that ending wasn't for people who drunk everyday of their pregnancies, people whose children saw them in a drunken rage, people who put aside enough money to buy bottle after bottle of cheap liquor. People like her.

 

“Hey Angel, you okay?”

 

She peered up, across the kitchen, to see Travis Manawa, her boyfriend, approaching. He was dressed in nothing else aside from a pair of grey Calvin Kleins that didn't leave much to the woman's alcohol addled imagination and his black curly hair was a slight bedraggled mess. “You're lookin’ good,” the woman cooed. “Come ‘ere.”

 

He stepped toward her and cast his eyes over her form. She was clothed in one of his shirts, which wasn't buttoned up properly, leaving ample cleavage exposed, and nothing else. Her blonde hair was a ruffled mess around her head, her eye makeup was smeared and some questionable red blemishes marred her neck and collarbones. He snaked one of his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest, being greeted almost immediately by her scent. Cigarettes, liquor and what was most probably dregs of his cologne that had rubbed off onto her during the previous night’s antics. Before she left the house, mostly before work, she'd drench herself in cheap perfume to attempt to mask the smell of her vices.

 

“You've been drinking, haven't you?” He whispered softly into her hair. “When I woke up and saw you weren't in bed I presumed you'd be around here.”

 

Maddie rolled her eyes. She couldn't deny the drinking to him, he knew her by now, and the fact that she had a half empty bottle in her hand was incriminating enough in itself. “Fine, you caught me. I couldn't sleep and I needed a cigarette.”

 

“You really should stop smoking, it's not good for you.”

 

“When have I ever done anything that was good for myself?”

 

He knew that she was joking, to some extent at least, but the haunted look in her eyes worried him. “Now that is what I'm talking about.”

 

“Go away, I just needed a quick sip.” She rolled her eyes and banged the bottle down onto the countertop before something stuck in the light fixture caught her attention. “Babe, I think the goddamn kids have been hanging mistletoe around the house.”

 

Travis found a smile slip onto his face, “and you're complaining, you know what it means, don't you?”

 

“Yeah, I know wha-” 

 

He cut her off mid sentence and pressed his lips against hers. He liked kissing her, it felt normal, familiar, natural. He felt her slip her tongue into his mouth and it slide hungrily over his teeth.

 

Her hands ran up his back. First she cupped his ass and then skirted her fingers over his bare back. She felt his hands brushing her thighs before his lips slid away from her’s and began hungrily kissing at her neck. His teeth dug softly into her skin and she let out a soft moan.

 

“Mom!” A voice exclaimed suddenly, causing the couple to pull apart. Nick glanced at his mother and stepfather, a grin on his face. “I see you two found the mistletoe Alicia bought on eBay.”

 

Travis, who was blushing lightly, grinned at the younger man. “Your mom was standing under it and I saw it as a good opportunity.”

 

The blonde batted him affectionately with the back of her hand, “it's always a good opportunity for you.”

 

“Mom, you honestly don't look like you're complaining.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Hey!” Luciana declared suddenly as she turned to her boyfriend. “We’re under the mistletoe.”

 

Nick smiled as he glanced up at the ceiling above him. “It looks like we are.”

 

“Well what are you standing around for then?” the Mexican woman laughed. “Kiss me baby.”

 

The taller man waggled his eyebrows and leaned in, smashing his lips against his girlfriend’s. Luciana slid her hands into his hair, knotting her fingers into the ratty brown mess. Nick cupped her chin with one hand and stroked the small of her back with the other.

 

“Ohhhh!” Ofelia suddenly declared, killing the moment simply. She stepped toward them, Alicia following close behind, and grinned at her two lovebird friends. “Nick’s getting some action, huh?”

 

“Shut it ‘Felia,” Nick flashed her a middle finger and an eye roll. “I get more action in one night than you get in an entire year.” He paused suddenly, his eyes widened, and he pointed at the ceiling. “Leesha, Ofelia, I'd want to look up if I were you.”

 

Alicia peered up first, slightly fearful, as she noticed a sprig of mistletoe. “Shit…”

 

Ofelia glanced at her best friend, “I take it you're going to have to pucker up!”

 

“Seriously?”

 

The older brunette shrugged, “we have to respect the power of the mistletoe.”

 

Nick shook his head, “now we’re gonna get a Leesha Ofelia kiss, this has got to be good.”

 

“I suppose the quicker we do it, the quicker it's over.” Alicia begun.

 

Ofelia nodded, “on the count of three. One...two...three…”

 

The pair both leaned in and shared a quick peck on the lips. 

 

“Whoop! Whoop!” Nick cheered with a clap.

 

His sister rolled her eyes, “honestly Nick, a word of this is never going to be spoken again.” She proceeded in turning to her friend, “but Ofelia, you're quite the good kisser.”

 

Her friend chuckled, “you're not too shabby yourself Leeshy!”


	12. Chapter 12

Day 12 - the 12th of December: The Carols

 

“And all I want for Christmas is you!” Nick sung, in a rather out of tune manner, as he waltzed in through the front door of his house. Community college had finished for the day and Nick and his girlfriend, Luciana, had been eager to get back home. 

 

“Someone sounds like they're in the festive spirit,” Alicia laughed as she approached her brother and almost sister in law. She'd arrived home from high school about a half hour earlier and she had been dwelling on social media while she waited for the others to all return home.

 

“You're just lucky you didn't have to hear his Christmas singing the entire drive home.” Luciana murmured as she playfully rolled her eyes and elbowed her boyfriend of just under a year, gently. 

 

“Hey, stop being such a hypocrite Luci,” he pulled the Mexican woman into a hug. “You seemed happy enough to be singing along to my Christmas playlist with me on the drive home.”

 

Nick had made sure to take Travis’ car to community college that day. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with his mom’s car, it was just that she drove a Camry that was practically older than him and that none of the technology was very up to date. He was lucky that his mom had a CD player in there, so he couldn't really complain that there was no iPhone connectivity. Travis, his stepdad, on the other hand, drove a 2015 Camry instead, which was all modern, and definitely the favoured car out of the two.

 

“Yeah but that was only because you were singing first and I'd be bored otherwise.”

 

“Mentiroso!” Nick spat bitterly in his best Spanish. Considering that Luciana had moved to the US from Mexico, English was not her first language. At first her English had been awful and Nick had brought it upon himself to help her improve. In return though, she had begun to teach him bits of Spanish. He'd had the initial intention for them both to get fluent in both languages, so that English could be for everyday life and they could use the Spanish to dirty talk. It hadn't ever come to fruition though, because as it turned out, both Alicia and Ofelia were also able to speak Spanish as well.

 

Luciana rolled her big brown eyes and tucked a loose strand of black hair behind one of her ears. “You're using your Spanish on me now, idiota.”

 

“You're the mentiroso idiota!” the ex junkie quipped back as he dropped his bag down onto the ground.

 

“Realmente cállate. Ambos son idiotas mentirosos!” Alicia declared suddenly as she flicked her long brown hair in disgust. “Come inside, Ofelia’s almost finished her shift at the clothes store and I'm starving.” She lead the still laughing pair into the kitchen and threw open the freezer. “I sorta want Ben and Jerry’s but I know mom will never forgive us if we eat the last bit so what do you guys think of magnums? We have original, original and more original.”

 

“Okay, I'll take one.” Nick replied and watched his sister tossed one of the packaged ice creams at him. 

 

“And I’d like one too Alicia.” Luciana proceeded to catch the second ice cream.

 

The trio sat themselves down in the living room. Nick and Luciana cuddled together on one side of the couch and Alicia sat herself down on the other. “Come on Ofelia,” she announced, aloud. “She is honestly taking forever.”

 

“She's working, unlike you Leesha…” Nick murmured softly, realising that he hoped that Alicia didn't hear what he said.

 

“Rude! We all know that I'm actively considering getting a job.” The brunette had never been one that was overly eager to actually become a part of the workforce. Nick supposed that he hadn't either but he had gotten one anyway as soon as he had gotten clean. He knew a hell of a lot of his mom’s savings had gone into his rehab bills, for both the successful and unsuccessful attempts, and knew that she wasn't very well off. Getting a job was the just about the least he could do to support her and pay her back. His mom was most probably his favourite person in the world and he loved her more than anything. She was a goddamn strong woman and, at times, she deserved a bit of help.

 

“I work at that little DVD place, that's why we get such great bargains and I make an okay salary.” Nick replied as he took another bite out of his ice cream. It was funny how much he'd managed to change his life in the past year. He was no longer a heroin addict, he had gotten himself off the substances and now he felt much better. It had also helped that he'd fallen in love, just having Luci in his life had stopped him from even considering relapsing. He loved her deeply, much more than he'd ever loved the female junkies he occasionally screwed back in his druggie days. 

 

“And I make an okay tips at that cafe where I waitress on the weekends,” Luciana, who had finished her ice cream, leaned over and took a large bite out of her boyfriend's.

 

“Hey, I was still eating that!” Nick laughed as he pulled the remaining creamy snack away from the woman.

 

“I was still hungry baby,” the Mexican girl snuggled back against her boyfriend. “You don't want me to starve do you?”

 

Nick, being the softie that he was, just sighed. “Fine, you can have the rest of mine.”

 

Luciana chuckled, “ever the pushover, but I can't say I'm complaining.”

 

Alicia smiled, “you two are such romantics, I'm jealous.”

 

“So I take it things aren't going too well with Matt at the moment?” Nick queried. His little sister and Matt Sale, a jock at her high school, were known for being constantly on one day and off the next. He didn't think she loved him much, Matt was actually a pretty nice guy but Alicia and him just didn't have that chemistry that Nick had with his girl.

 

“That bastard, I caught him texting Susannah the other day when we were meant to be on a date. Honestly though Nick, all guys are jerks.”

 

“Even me?”

 

“Definitely you!”

 

“Hi guys! Didn't you hear me come in?” 

 

Just as Nick was ready to get offended at his sister's remark, Ofelia strolled into the living room, a wide grin on her face. “I just bought the most amazing top, Leeshy you’re gonna love it.”

 

Alicia jumped up, embraced her friend tightly, and peered in the shopping back before she pulled out a floral piece of material. “It is bloody beautiful!” she declared happily as she held it to her chest. As it turned out, Alicia and Ofelia were the same size, which made things easy in the ‘sharing the clothes’ department.

 

“I thought you'd like it, twenty bloomin’ percent off!” ‘Bloomin’ seemed to be Ofelia’s word of choice recently and it was getting old, very fast, with her friends.

 

“What about me ‘Felia? Did you get me anything?” Nick grinned at his friend.

 

“Not everything is about you,” she replied as she sat herself down on the sofa between Nick and Alicia. “I did get this nail polish pack,” she held up a packet holding three different ‘summer nights’ inspired colours. “You can have it if you'd like.”

 

“How was work anyway, Felia?” Alicia queried as she turned to her friend.

 

“Busy, very busy. I think it's the Christmas rush but everyone was very eager to come in and spend a great deal on clothes. I had to help a heap of boyfriends find the perfect gifts for their girlfriends but they tipped me pretty well so I'm not complaining.” She began to rub her feet with her hands, they were finally free of her very high wedge heels. “How about the rest of you guys’ days?”

 

Alicia shrugged, “pretty boring. We had a math test and a couple of girls got in a fist fight over a boy during lunch break.”

 

“A fist fight?” Luciana replied, looking rather shocked.

 

“Yep, with hair pulling and all. Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother would have been in his element.”

 

“Now that's pretty crazy,” Nick replied. “My day was boring, Luci was in most of my classes and I think she really likes playing with my feet under the desk.”

 

“Do not.”

 

“Do too!”

 

“How come no one offered me an ice cream?” Ofelia asked suddenly.

 

Alicia flicked her hand dismissively toward the kitchen. “Go grab one yourself Felia, we’re not your servants.”

 

“You are too!” Ofelia groaned and stood up before she hurried toward the freezer. 

 

Just as she went to sit back down on the sofa a loud ringing echoed throughout the house. That was the problem with having so many devices, Nick decided, as he reached out and scooped up his iPad. He pulled back the magnetic Apple smart case and peered at the screen. Chris Manawa, his fifteen year old stepbrother’s face filled the screen. 

 

“Who is it?” Alicia leaned over in an attempt to get a glance at the screen.

 

“It's Chris, he’s facetiming us.”

 

“Well answer the damn thing then!” Ofelia quipped and Nick rolled his eyes before he pushed the round green answer button.

 

“Hey man!” Nick declared, “what's up?”

 

Chris, who was wearing a cap and a large grin, smiled at the older boy. “Hey Nick, hey Alicia, hey Ofelia, hey Luci!”

 

All the girls chorused a quick hello before Alicia took the iPad from her brother. “How are you going Chris? Your mom’s not giving you too much grief, is she?” Liza, Travis’ ex, wasn't very approving of Chris’ friendship with his new family.

 

“Not too much, she's at work right now but she'd probably flip if she saw I was calling you.”

 

Ofelia pushed her head into the camera’s range. “Everything okay?”

 

“Yeah, I'm just bored, like super bored. I just finished binging Agents of Shield, which is like super good and I wanted to see what you all were up to.”

 

“We’re just eating,” Ofelia held up her Magnum, which now looked like an almost bare popsicle stick. “And chatting.”

 

“Mom and your dad are still at the school, I think they have a staff meeting or something today.” Nick added.

 

“Agents of Shield, huh?” Luciana interjected. “I watched that with Nick and the other girls once when we were bored and it was pretty good.”

 

“Yeah, I'm asking my mom for some AOS pops for Christmas but she's not really a pop person.”

 

Nick clapped his hands over his heart, “not a pop person? She's a crime against humanity.”

 

“Calm it Nick, I don't think our mom likes pops herself,” his sister retorted.

 

Chris grinned, still chuckling from Nick’s melodramatic performance. “I don't even think your mom knows what pops are in the first place, you guys are lucky, you mustn't get bored too often.”

 

“We get bored more than you'd think, we usually binge an entire series when we’re bored. Midway through Game of Thrones at the moment, Chris.” Ofelia replied.

 

“I'm not allowed to watch that either.”

 

“Well man, how about we stream it next time you're here?” Nick grinned, “it's like super award winning and the special effects are on fleek.”

 

“A bit like Nick’s eyebrows,” Alicia mocked. 

 

“What about Nick’s eyebrows?” Chris asked, not wanting to be left out of a joke.

 

Ofelia grinned. “Well, last time we went to the shops Nick insisted on getting his eyebrows done at one of those eyebrow stations in the middle of the mall.”

 

“And Chris, those women work magic,” Nick pointed to his eyebrows. “These babies are the best they've been my entire life.”

 

“This is coming from the guy who sometimes gets his makeup done in the department stores though,” Luciana added. 

 

“Make up has no gender, girls.”

 

“Tell that to my mom, she'd kill me if I got my makeup done at a department store.” Chris replied.

 

“It's all just a bit of fun,” Nick smiled. “My mom honestly doesn't mind.”

 

“Better makeup than drugs,” Alicia elbowed her brother.

 

“That is definitely true,” Ofelia added.

 

“You been listening to a lot of Christmas songs this year?” Nick changed the subject suddenly as he peered at Chris on the screen.

 

“Sorta. My mom likes the Mariah Carey one but I'm not the hugest fan.”

 

“Mistletoe by Justin Bieber is probably my favourite,” Nick replied.

 

“Justin? Seriously?”

 

“Well, young Chris,” Nick began in a voice that was attempting to exude maturity but just ended up making him sound like an ass. “Bieber might be a bit of a douche but that song gives off a real festive vibe.” He paused before he began a very out of tune rendition.

 

“If he doesn't stop singing I'm going to hang up!” Chris declared and Nick stopped, mid note, and flashed the younger boy a dirty look.

 

“I actually prefer the Sam Smith one, ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’.” Alicia added.

 

Ofelia shook her head dismissively. “Neither of them have anything on Bùble.” 

 

“You just have the hots for Bùble, that's the only reason you like his songs.” Nick grimaced slightly.

 

“Bùble is the fricken man!” the older brunette was adamant.

 

Luciana shrugged, “he's not bad but my favourite Christmas song is the Fifth Harmony version of ‘All I want for Christmas is you’.”

 

“Fifth Harmony, they're hot…” Chris trailed off dreamily.

 

“Chris, cut it out or I'm going to slap you through the screen.” Alicia shook her head. Boys, honestly, they had to be the most immature things ever.

 

Suddenly the first bars of ‘All I want for Christmas is you’, the original version, began to echo throughout the room. Nick, clutching his iPhone, which was the source of the sound, sat himself back down on the couch.

 

“Carpool Karaoke guys?” 

 

“We’re not even in the car Nick,” Ofelia grimaced at his comment.

 

“Couchpool Karaoke featuring Chris instead? Is that better?” Nick smiled toothy grin.

 

The girls and Chris all nodded begrudgingly, even though they actually didn't mind the sound of it that much.

 

“I don't want a lot for Christmas,” Nick began before he motioned for Alicia to go next.

 

“There is just one thing I need,” she pointed to Ofelia.

 

“I don't care about the presents,” she sung and nudged Luciana.

 

The Mexican girl paused for a moment before she opened her mouth, “underneath the Christmas tree.” 

 

Chris, who was obviously next, rolled his eyes. “I just want you for my own.”

 

“More than you could ever know,” it was Nick’s turn again.

 

“Make my wish one true,” Alicia sung more enthusiastically than she had the first time.

 

Ofelia chuckled, “oh baby all I want for Christmas is...”

 

She motioned for everyone to join in and all four other mouths opened, “you!”

 

They all began to break down into fits of giggles. Chris broke first, “I loved your singing Nick, let's just say I don't want you auditioning for The Voice.”

 

“Hey,” Nick quipped in a voice of mock offence. “I would crush The Voice, I possess true talent.”

 

“Just keep telling yourself that...” Ofelia replied.

 

Chris smiled again, “you know how excited I am to get to spend Christmas with you guys?”

 

“Very?” Alicia guessed.

 

The younger boy nodded, “very, very, very.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Contains strong depictions of sexual situations (in other words - Maddie and Travis do it, a lot)
> 
> READER DISCRETION ADVISED

Day 13 - the 13th of December: The Lingerie

 

Madison Clark felt a smile slip onto her face as she glanced at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She'd had a few glasses, and the alcohol, which was still swirling through her system, was making her feel amazing. 

 

She'd had a pretty good day so far, which was something, especially by her standards, but she'd been planning this night for about the entire duration of December. It wasn't that she really needed to spice up her sex life, it was plenty spicy already, thank you very much, but they'd both been busy lately and she was sure that they needed some special ‘them’ time. 

 

About a week earlier she'd slipped off to a lingerie shop during her lunch break and had bought something festive and, as the shop assistant put it, irresistible. She was fifty one this year, not in her twenties anymore, but her age had never been an important factor in her relationship with Travis. He was younger than her, by about five years, but she didn't mind. When you approached middle age you picked a partner based on how they acted and thought, not just by what year they were born in, and he was a good intellectual match for her. They were both intelligent people who made a good pair, and he loved her, that had to count for something.

 

He also loved her children, and if anything cemented their relationship, it was that. Just that day at the school, Travis had met the student teacher that was going to be helping out his class for the remainder of the term. Madison had been ever so disgruntled, mostly because they had gone to his classroom early to try and fit in a little quickie before classes, only to find a strange young brunette standing at the door. Travis had introduced himself quickly and Maddie had done the same. The woman, Cath, had been lovely and both herself and Travis had struck up conversation. She'd asked him if he had any children, and without even a dash of hesitation, Travis had nodded and announced that he had three lovely children. Two boys and a girl. He hadn't mentioned that two of them were his step kids, he'd just said they were all his. He loved them like they were all his biological babies, and despite Nick and Alicia being somewhat skeptical of Travis at first, were happy enough to accept him as their dad.

 

It was getting late, by this point, and she knew that Travis was probably seated, cross legged, on their bed marking essays. Her children, as well as Luciana and Ofelia, were all locked in Alicia’s room captivated by whatever Netflix series they were presently binging. She knew that she had to ready herself, she hadn't been planning this for nothing, and she knew that if she wasn't to do it soon she would never be able to tear him away from his work. Sometimes, she decided, she really wished for a bad boy.

 

Quickly, she began to unbutton her white blouse before she shrugged it off her shoulders, leaving her in nothing but a black lace bra. She slid her hands behind her back and undid the clasp, the undergarment released its hold and fell to the ground. She slowly tugged her tight black pants down her legs to reveal her thighs and calves. She hadn't shaved that day, it was pretty hard to shave when you shared a shower with your boyfriend that morning, but she knew that Travis wouldn't mind. Her black panties soon followed and, by this point, she was standing in her ensuite completely naked.

 

She scooped up the box that housed the lingerie that she had bought. She hadn't wanted to go conventional, she had enough standard lingerie in her dresser drawer. It was Christmas, the goddamn silly season, she had wanted to go a bit more risqué than usual. She was a kinky woman, she knew that, had always known that. Back in the later years of high school, as well as college, she'd had her fair share of one night stands and soon learned that she tying them up was actually a real turn on.

 

The lid came off the box easily and she reached inside in order to scoop up the panties. They were crotchless, lacy and a bright shade of red. They fit her nicely, but that wasn't overly important, she knew that she wasn't going to be wearing them for too long. She glanced into the box again, originally she was going to go with the matching red lace bra but the shop assistant had insisted that ‘pasties’ were all the rage. Never having heard the term before, Maddie queried her, and some learned that pasties were ‘decorative coverings of the nipple’. As soon as she saw the styles on offer she was sure that Travis wasn't going to complain and bought a pair immediately.

 

She peered at her large breasts reflected in the mirror and proceeded in sticking a pastie over each nipple. They were a festive design consisting of a round red circle, a green ribbon and a pair of bells glued in the centre. She jiggled her chest to the side and stifled a laugh. She looked ridiculous, like a middle aged woman who was trying to hard, but she didn't mind. She felt good about herself, she felt hot, and that was all that mattered.

 

A red satin ribbon was fastened around her neck in a bow. She had bought another one for Travis, he was most definitely going to get tied up. The woman stepped into a large pair of red strappy heels and shrugged on a thin, see through, red robe, which she fastened around her middle with another red ribbon.

 

The blonde ran her fingers through her hair, messing it up, in order to give herself that rough, untamed look. She slid the tip of a bright red lipstick over her full lips and completed the look with a fair helping of black eyeshadow, mascara and eyeliner around her big hazel eyes.

 

She took a deep breath but soon realised that this didn't phase her at all. She wasn't trying to impress him, she did that each day even without lingerie, she just wanted to have a little fun.

 

Maddie opened the bathroom door and stepped into the bedroom, surprisingly stable, considering that she was usually hopeless in big heels. “Babe,” she purred softly. “I'd put those essays away if I were you.”

 

Travis glanced up, surprised, and she watched as his eyes widened. “Goodness Maddie,” his mouth slipped into a large smile. “You look amazing.”

 

She tugged off the robe and let it drift down to the floor seductively before she stepped toward him. “How about now? Still just amazing?”

 

His eyes ran over her, observing every inch of both exposed and covered flesh. He glanced, for a fleeting moment, longer than usual, at her bust. “I'm supposed to be marking grade eleven essays and now I'm too turned on to think,” he replied, looking slightly embarrassed. “But you look hot, angel, very hot, sexy hot, but classy hot…”

 

She liked watching him stumble over his words in his dumbfounded state. She was so used to his extensive vocabulary and it was nice to leave him speechless occasionally. “You think those essays can wait, Trav?”

 

He nodded slowly and scooped the essays up into a messy stack before he dumped them down into his side table. “Definitely.”

 

The blonde kicked off her heels and climbed onto the bed. She slid toward him, a large sexy grin on her face, before she licked her lips slowly. She lifted herself up and slid her arms around his waist before she smashed her mouth hard against his. Her hands skirted under his shirt and began to caress at the bare skin of his back before they slid around to his chest and swiftly unbuttoned the front of his shirt. Her tongue ran over the newly exposed skin and she felt him slide his hands up between her legs.

 

She pressed her hips against his and let out a slow moan as he grazed her neck with his lips. She liked neck bites, they were one of those things she had never let Stephen do but let Travis.

 

He leaned in and proceeded in pulling the pasties off with his teeth, leaving her nipples aroused and standing in hard peaks. He began to suckle at them, he bit gently and ran his tongue hungrily over her breasts.

 

She let out an even louder moan as she tugged down his jeans, leaving him in nothing but Calvin Kleins. Her hands rubbed softly at his crotch, feeling a hard bulge through the fabric. He didn't seem to mind leaving the essays to later after all.

 

With a rough tug she pulled down the briefs. She cupped his stiff erection in her palms and stroked it softly, relishing the sound of his moaning.

 

“Maddie…” he whispered as he gently pulled down her panties, which by this point were soaking wet. He slipped his fingers into her softly, exploring her warm depths, and felt them grown damp with her juices. He slid his head down between her legs, tasting her, letting his tongue explore places his fingers couldn't.

 

She released a loud pleasure filled shriek before she suddenly silenced herself with the realisation that her children were in the other room. She leaned down, her lips nestled into his hair. “Fuck me Travis, fuck me now.”

 

He nodded and shifted his form before he slowly slipped into her. He thrusted forward gently, their bodies banging against each other, his lips back against her neck. 

 

Her fingers dug into the chocolate brown flesh of his back, her nails grazed hard into his skin. “Harder, goddamn it Travis, harder.”

 

She knew that she was coming fast, that the inevitable spiral into ecstasy was almost in sight. She felt him drive himself into her harder, she felt his hands cup her ass, pull her against him.

 

She bit his lip.

 

He released a slow moan.

 

They both climaxed.

 

X-X-X-X

 

They collapsed against the mattress in a sweaty, wet heap. Her chest was heaving up and down and her breaths hadn't yet returned to normal and her forehead was sticky with sweat.

 

Travis rolled over and pulled his partner against him. “Now that was something,” he whispered into her hair quietly. “You caught me by surprise.”

 

“That was fucking amazing,” Maddie murmured back. 

 

“Tell me about it, I don't know if I'm going to be able to move tomorrow though, these old joints aren’t like they used to be.”

 

“Piss off,” the woman laughed as she slapped him playfully. “I don't think those old joints ever got a workout like this before I came along anyway.”

 

He shrugged, “these joints didn't even know what a workout was before you came along.”

 

Madison grinned softly, “you're amazing? You know that right?” She stroked his cheek softly with her fingers, “and not just in the bedroom, where you are goddamn amazing as well, don't get me wrong, but in everyday life too.”

 

Travis glanced at her, “what brought that comment on Angel?”

 

“I heard you tell that woman at the school today that you have three kids, not one kid and two step kids, but three kids. You accept me, you accept my children, you tolerate my fucked up life.” she paused, “I swear to god that there's not many men like you.”

 

“There's not many women like you either.”

 

“I suppose that's a good thing.”

 

Travis ran some fingers through her hair, brushing it aside to reveal her face. “More people need to be like you, you're the most amazing, caring, kick ass person that I have ever met. People could learn a lot from you.”

 

She rolled her eyes. She might not have believed the statement herself but she knew he did, and in actual fact, that was all that mattered.


	14. Chapter 14

Day 14 - the 14th of December: The Pool Party

 

“Nicholas Bloody Clark if I see you again anywhere near that pool edge before the party starts no dinner tonight!” Madison Clark declared sternly as she peered across her back garden at her son. The younger man had been dwelling dangerously close to the pristine blue water for a good fifteen minutes now and she couldn't have him swimming. She knew once he went in he wouldn't come out again and they still had lots to get done.

 

It was a Wednesday and for some reason, that probably made sense last week after she'd had a few too many drinks, she'd invited her best friend Victor Strand and his boyfriend Thomas Abigail around for a pre Christmas get together. It had been Nick’s idea to add in the pool party aspect and now the blonde found herself cleaning the patio table in an attempt to make it look a bit more presentable.

 

She spritzed the ‘Spray and Wipe’ at the glass topped table and scrubbed at it with a cloth. She glanced back over at Nick, plucked a cigarette from between her lips and flashed him a disapproving look. “Can't you hear me, Nick?”

 

The boy shook his head and jogged over toward his mother. He was dressed in a cotton t-shirt with what appeared to be Drake lyrics printed across the front, a pair of denim shorts, and a set of Ray Ban sunglasses perched on his nose. A quote was tattooed, in an italic type font, up his inner left forearm and the woman felt her heart swell just by seeing it. She knew most mothers didn't promote their children getting tattooed but she wasn't most mothers and, to tell the truth, he wasn't most children either. She still remembered when he had first shown it to her. It had read: ‘I am because you were’ and he had told her that he had gotten it as a little thank you to the woman who had always supported him, even through his addiction. 

 

“I can hear you, mom, but I know that you're not really gonna take away my dinner so I'm not worried.”

 

“Smart ass,” the woman replied in her thick southern accent before she playfully slapped her son’s shoulder. “What makes you think I wouldn't?”

 

“Mom, you still insist on giving me a goodnight kiss, every bloody night, you'd never let me starve.”

 

“Fine,” Maddie huffed, “but, honey, you're never gonna be too old for a good night kiss from your mommy.”

 

Nick rolled his eyes, “sometimes you act like I'm still a tiny kid.”

 

“That's because you act like a tiny little kid yourself,” the blonde took another drag of her cigarette. “If you wouldn't mind, baby, could you possibly go pick up some ice from a gas station? Our refrigerator isn't big enough to hold all the bottles Travis and I picked up from the liquor store. Oh, and would you mind grabbing me another pack of smokes?”

 

Nick nodded, “sure. I'll see if anyone else wants to come along.”

 

“Thanks sweetie, just grab three bags.” She quickly embraced her eldest child before she released him again. “My purse is on the bench, I'm sure a fifty will cover it.”

 

Nick nodded before he hurried inside. Once he made it through the backdoor, he glanced around the family room. Travis, his stepdad, who was in the kitchen slicing vegetables for a platter, glanced up at him. “Nick, did your mom tell you off for trying to go swimming?”

 

“Yep,” Nick laughed as he sat himself down on one of the barstool at the bench across from Travis. “How did you know?”

 

“Lucky guess?” The Maori man glanced down at the platter he was constructing, “would you like a carrot or a celery stick?”

 

The ex junkie shook his head, a look of terror on his face, “no thanks.”

 

“Your sister did the exact same thing, what is with the Clark kids hating on healthy snacks?”

 

Nick chuckled, “try give one to mom. I'm sure you'd get the same look of disgust.”

 

“I really don't want to get my head bitten off,” he replied with a laugh. 

 

The boy nodded, “I'm just going down to the gas station to get mom some ice,” he decided to not mention the cigarette request. “Is there anything you'd like, man?”

 

Travis shrugged, “maybe grab a couple more packs of chips, I think I heard you all open a bag last night.”

 

Nick grinned sheepishly, “we were watching some Game of Thrones and we were all feeling a bit peckish. I'll pick some more up,” he scooped his mother's purse off of the bench and pulled out a fifty as well as a twenty, cigarettes weren't cheap, and smiled at Travis. “See you later.”

 

“Bye Nick, but don't be too long, the guests are supposed to be here in just over an hour.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Would any of you like to come with me to the gas station to pick up some ice?” 

 

Nick glanced around the bedroom that his younger sister shared with her best friend. Alicia and Luciana were both seated cross legged on Alicia’s bed and were peering, fixated, at the screen of Alicia’s phone. Ofelia was lying, stomach down, on the ground and Chris, who Travis had somehow managed to get over for the pool party, was seated, knees pulled up to his chest, beside her. 

 

Chris shrugged, “I’ll come, I really want some chewing gum but Leesha won't share.”

 

“I only have one piece left,” the brunette shot back. “And Nick, Luci and I are sorta busy with something so we want to stay here.” 

 

As it turned out, Alicia had just received a text from Matt, her sometimes boyfriend, claiming that he wanted to break up. Slightly disgruntled, she'd enlisted the help of Luciana, who had been scrolling through Instagram, to assist in orchestrating the perfect comeback message.

 

“Yeah, that's fine, finish up whatever you're doing.” He turned to Ofelia, who was still silent. “What about you ‘Felia? You coming?”

 

“Yeah I suppose, they have those slushy machines at gas stations and I NEED a slushy.”

 

Chris’ eyes lit up, “can I get one too?”

 

“Of course man, I think I need one as well,” Nick smiled and adjusted his sunglasses atop his ratty, long, brown hair.

 

The younger boy stood up, still grinning, “I love hanging out with you guys. I get to do all this stuff my mom would never let me get away with.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

The trio waltzed into the gas station and Nick turned to his stepbrother and friend. “Okay, so you want gum, Chris, we have to grab some packets of chips for Travis-”

 

“Is that because we ate them all last night?” Ofelia cut in.

 

“Yeah,” the older boy grinned. “Travis was not amused but anyway, what was I saying again, we also need three bags of ice and mom wants some cigarettes.”

 

The brunette rolled her eyes, “and I'm gonna have to buy them, right?” Ever since the legal tobacco purchase age had been increased from eight to twenty one in California Ofelia, who was the oldest, had been in charge of purchasing them whenever Maddie needed some. “These places around here are going to think I have a real smoking problem.”

 

“But wouldn't you rather have a stranger think poorly of you than have Maddie tear shreds out of you?” Chris mocked.

 

“Yeah, you're probably right.” Ofelia grimaced, “I'll go grab the cigarettes, Chris can get the gum and chips and Nick, you purchase the ice. We can meet back at the freezer, carry the ice to the car and then come back in for our slushies.”

 

Taken aback by the female’s organisational skills, Nick nodded. “At least someone has a plan.”

 

They all took off in their different directions and soon met back at the large freezer. “So we all grab a bag each, they're not overly heavy I don't think.” Nick lifted out a bag and passed it down to Ofelia before he passed a second one to Chris and took one for himself. “You get the cigarettes?”

 

Ofelia nodded, they had begun the trek back to Travis’ car. “And they didn't even ask for ID, I must look well over twenty one.” 

 

“You look so old that you'd probably be able to join an over fifties senior club, no questions asked.” Nick replied as he popped the boot of the Camry open and dropped the large bag inside.

 

“Rude! You don't know how badly I want to smash you over the head with this bag of ice right now.”

 

Chris laughed, “dude, I'd be terrified if I were you.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

A good ten minutes later all three young people piled back into the car, slushies in hand. Ofelia was driving, mostly because Travis seemed to trust her more, Nick was sitting shotgun and Chris was in the back. 

 

“Is my tongue blue ‘Felia? Chris?” Nick proceeded in sticking his tongue out of his mouth.

 

“Eew!” Ofelia declared, “Nick stop distracting me, I'm driving here.”

 

“I can't see Nick, can you turn around more?” 

 

The oldest boy turned around so that he was directly facing Chris and let his tongue protrude from between his lips. “Can you see now?”

 

“Hell yeah, that's as blue as the slushie itself,” Chris laughed. “Is mine blue?”

 

“Your’s actually looks more purple than blue.”

 

“Shut up guys, no one cares what colour your tongues are!”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Victor!” Maddie declared as she threw open the front door and embraced her friend. She'd met him years ago at a hotel bar. She was supposed to be on a romantic getaway with Stephen but he hadn't been interested so she'd done what all alcoholics would do, planted herself at the hotel bar. He'd hit on her at first but when she hadn't been interested they'd struck up conversation. Together, they'd progressively grown more and more drunk and by the end of the night they had exchanged phone numbers and had become Facebook friends.

 

“Madison,” Strand released her from the hug and examined her quickly. “You look amazing, that blouse suits you perfectly.”

 

The blonde rose an eyebrow and peered at her own outfit. She was dressed in a slightly worn flannel shirt and a pair of tight black jeans. In other words, she looked pretty damn far from amazing. “Thanks, I just threw it on this morning.” She paused and glanced around, suddenly realising something, “where's Thomas?”

 

Strand smiled, “he's just grabbing the desserts from the back of the Mercedes.”

 

Maddie rolled her eyes, “when I said dessert I meant a cheap cake or a pack of ice creams or somethin’.”

 

“We couldn't do that Madison, and Thomas and I have an announcement to make anyway.”

 

“Hey Maddie!” Thomas declared as he finally made his way up the driveway and toward the front door. He appeared to be struggling with a large white box, which was partially obscuring his face. “Can I just push through? I don't want to squish the desserts.”

 

“Here, let me grab this,” she grabbed the box from man’s hands. “Come through, the younger guys are still getting their swimsuits on and I think Travis is in the kitchen.”

 

She lead them both down the hall and into the main living/dining room. “What in the world are you carrying, Angel?” Travis laughed as he immediately hurried over to Maddie’s side and assisted her in putting the box down.

 

“Thomas and Strand brought dessert,” she replied with an eyeroll.

 

Travis lifted the cardboard lid to reveal an array of intricate looking cakes and pastries, “wow guys, you really went all out.”

 

“They look lovely, don't they?” Thomas approached the box and peered inside, “Victor chose well.”

 

“Strand!” Nick declared as he suddenly bounded into the room, the rest of his squad followed close behind. He was dressed in a pair of swim trunks and no shirt and his sunglasses were still atop his head. Nick had always liked Strand, and not just because he was his mom’s only rich friend who bought him and Alicia awesome gifts, but also because he was a nice guy. Victor had always treated his mom well, better than his dad ever had, and because of that he had only respect for the man.

 

“Nicholas, you're growing up,” Strand replied. “I take it you're going for a swim?”

 

Alicia stepped toward her brother and smiled sweetly at Strand. “Yeah, we all are. You and Thomas could always take a dip if you'd like.”

 

Victor shook his head, “no thank you, I'll probably just keep your mom company.” He paused and turned to Maddie, “we do make quite the drinking pair.”

 

The blonde grinned, “too true.”

 

Both Strand and Thomas proceeded in greeting the rest of the young adults before Maddie offered to ‘pour ‘em all a glass of somethin’’. 

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Last one in the pool is a rotting corpse!” Nick declared as he raced down the pavement toward the edge of the pool.

 

“Not so fast!” Alicia cried as she dashed behind her brother. Her hazelnut brown hair was tied up into a messy ponytail and she was dressed in a floral bikini. She tossed her sunglasses and a large floppy sun hat onto one of the pool chairs atop a stack of towels.

 

“Pool safety says to not run next to the pool,” Ofelia declared loudly. Her hair was pulled into an untidy bun and she was wearing a red and white bikini. “But when was the last time I listened to any safety regulations?”

 

“You guys are terrible!” Chris chased closely behind, his jet black hair in a man bun. He was wearing a pair of blue boardshorts and he had some cheap, two dollar sunglasses on his face. 

 

“Wait up!” Luciana cried as she followed behind all decked out in a brightly coloured one piece swimsuit and a sunhat similar to Alicia’s. “I don't want to be a decaying corpse or whatever it was that Nick said.”

 

“Well I think it's too late for that,” Nick replied as he finally reached the pool edge and propelled himself off. He hit the water in a perfect cannonball dive and splashed the rest of the kids.

 

Alicia sprung off the edge, copying her older brother closely. “You're not the only one who knows how to dive.”

 

“Neither are you Leeshy!” Ofelia jumped off and hit the water dangerously close to where Nick was dwelling.

 

“SHIT!” Nick ducked aside, a slightly panicked look on his face. “You almost killed me!”

 

Ofelia grinned, “sure, sure Nick, ever the drama queen.”

 

“Guys, watch!” Chris approached the pool edge and flung himself into the water. He poked his head up out of the water, his soaking wet hair stuck to his head. 

 

“You look like a drowned rat!” Alicia mocked, “but that dive was,” she made an ‘o’ shape with her fingers.

 

“So I take it I'm the rotten corpse?” Luciana asked as she waded from the shallow end toward her boyfriend.

 

Nick slipped an arm around her damp shoulders, “you should have done a dive, Luci.”

 

The Mexican girl shook her head, “I don't like diving.”

 

Nick made a hissing noise and turned his face in mock repulsion. “How could any girlfriend of mine dislike diving into pools?”

 

Luciana shrugged, “I don't know, the splash is just a bit too big.”

 

“Weakling.”

 

Ofelia rose an eyebrow questioningly as she turned to her friend, “Leeshy, did Luci and you ever end up messaging Matt back?”

 

“Yeah, we ended up telling him that if you have something to say to me you should just say it to my face and that it's no great loss.” Alicia replied.

 

“He's a moron,” Nick shook his head. “And we don't have any time for morons.”

 

“If I didn't have time for morons, I most definitely wouldn't be dating you,” Luciana playfully elbowed her boyfriend.

 

“Rude,” Nick laughed before he began to splash her.

 

“Hey,” Luciana pulled away before she started to splash back. 

 

Alicia pulled back, a stream of water colliding with her face, “seriously guys, my hair is going to be terrible after this.”

 

“It's inevitable, hair gets terrible and then you wash it,” Ofelia replied. “But seriously, I call dibs on the shower first tonight.”

 

That was always a problem in the Clark household. There were so many people and only one shower, which obviously always lead to disputes. Maddie and Travis had their ensuite but, even then, it still left one shower to four people.

 

“Second!” Chris declared.

 

Alicia grimaced, “I guess that makes me third.”

 

“And we can go joint forth.” Nick added as he pulled Luciana into a tight hug.

 

Ofelia glanced across at the patio, which was where all of the adults were located. Maddie was standing beside the barbecue, glass in one hand, barbecue tongs in the other. Travis, Strand and Thomas were all seated at the table, a cheese platter in the centre. They all seemed to be talking and laughing, which was great.

 

“I wonder what Strand and Thomas’ big news is,” the brunette mused before she turned back toward her friends.

 

“They've probably made some big business deal or something that rich people get all excited about,” Alicia replied.

 

“Or maybe they're going on vacation or something,” Nick added.

 

“Did you see what they brought for dessert?” Chris queried, “I want to try like every bit of it.”

 

“I know right?” Luciana laughed, “it looks amazing.”

 

“Rich people are the luckiest!” By this point, Nick was floating on his back, a large wistful smile on his face. 

 

“We might be millionaires one day, you never know…” Alicia mused.

 

Nick rolled his eyes, “I don't actually care if we’re rich or not, I just want us all to be happy.”

 

“I hope we all still hang out when we’re older,” Ofelia murmured.

 

Chris smiled, “maybe all our kids will be friends too.”

 

Luciana nodded happily, “I hope so.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

A few hours had passed since Strand and Thomas’ arrival and by this point all of the Kidsquad had decided that they were probably prune-y and somewhat sunburnt and that it was about time to get out of the pool. 

 

Still dripping, they were now all seated around the patio table wrapped in towels. 

 

“How was your swim?” Thomas asked curiously as he peered at Alicia.

 

The brunette grinned, “it was great actually, Nick's a real pain in the ass though.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“What did he do?” Thomas questioned.

 

Ofelia sighed, “he just seems to enjoy splashing us way too much!”

 

“My mom is gonna kill me,” Chris moaned suddenly. “I just had a haircut on the weekend and now my hair’s gonna be a giant mess.”

 

Travis, who had just approached the table clutching a large salad bowl, grinned. “I'll explain it to her buddy, I'm sure that it'll be fine after a good wash.”

 

“Thanks dad,” he paused and glanced at his step brother. “At least it's not as messy as Nick’s hair.”

 

“You know how long I spend on this hair every morning? It's a goddamn piece of art.”

 

Maddie, who seemed slightly tipsy and was still standing beside the barbecue, glanced at her son. “Yeah right, you're in and out that bathroom in like two minutes. Quit talkin’ shit.”

 

Ofelia chuckled, “you tell him, Maddie!”

 

“Oh don't you worry Ofelia, I will.”

 

Luciana glanced at the blonde woman, “how long until the food’s ready?”

 

Maddie grinned, “probably about five minutes, I just put these chops on.” She paused and pulled some aluminum foil off of a plate, “you can have a sausage though kids, pass ‘em around.”

 

Travis lifted a loaf of white sliced bread, “and we have some bread too if you'd like.”

 

“Awesome, thanks man.” Nick took the loaf from his step dad and tugged open the plastic. “Anyone want a slice?”

 

Soon enough Alicia, Nick, Ofelia, Luciana and Chris were all seated around the table, makeshift hot dogs in hand. Maddie slammed down a tray of steaks in the middle of the table and turned to all of the guests, “anyone need a drink?”

 

“Coke Zero,” Nick replied.

 

Alicia shrugged, “peach Fuze iced tea?”

 

“I'll be the same as Nick,” Ofelia muttered.

 

“Just a glass of peach tea for me please Maddie,” Chris smiled at his stepmom.

 

“Maybe some water please,” Luciana smiled.

 

“Okay so coke, coke, peach shitty tea drink and a water,” she turned to the men. “Should I open another bottle of red? That one you bought Victor?”

 

Strand grinned, “yes, that sounds wonderful Madison.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

Madison Clark strolled in through the back door and toward her kitchen. She tugged open the fridge and removed a pair of bottles and the pitcher of cold water. She poured five glasses, then dropped a couple of ice cubes into each and removed some straws from one of the high cupboards. The things she did for her children, no one ever was going to pour seventeen year old her glasses of cold Coke.

 

She scooped a large bottle of red wine up off of the bench and proceeded in pouring four glasses. She leaned over and pulled open the freezer in search of a bottle of Vodka. She twisted the lid off and downed a large swig. She'd happily drink the red wine in front of her guests but nothing quite hit the spot like the Vodka.

 

“Mom, hurry it up, we’re thirsty!” Nick cried from outside.

 

Madison rolled her eyes, damn he was pushy, but she didn't mind. She'd rather have a pushy son who was safe and at home than a withdrawn heroin addict of a son that lived out of a filthy drug den.

 

“I'm comin’, be patient for God’s sake.” The blonde placed all of the glasses down onto a tray that Travis had purchased during their last visit to IKEA. Sometimes she thought he loved the homewares more than he loved her.

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Okay so Cokes for Nick and ‘Felia, Fuze or whatever the hell it’s called for Alicia and Chris and a water for Luci.” Maddie passed the drinks out slowly in an attempt to not to spill any.

 

Nick sipped his bright pink straw and smiled, “thanks mom, you remembered that I like three ice cubes.”

 

Not admitting that it was just a lucky guess, Maddie grinned, “that's what mom s are for.”

 

Luciana, who was resting her head on Nick’s shoulder, looking more tired than usual, smiled. “These chops are amazing Maddie, and I'm loving your salad, Travis.”

 

The Maori-American man grinned, “thanks Luci, I've been making this salad for years. I actually made it when we had a party just after Chris was born.”

 

Luciana smiled, “I imagine that Chris was an adorable baby,” she paused and ruffled Chris’ hair, much to the boy’s disgruntlement. “Especially going on what he looks like now.”

 

Chris, who was blushing as red as a beetroot, shook his head. “Seriously, stop embarrassing me!”

 

Travis smiled and stood up before he pulled his son into a hug, “you were an adorable baby, that was probably the only thing that your mom and I ever agreed on.” He man paused, “and I'm so happy that you've been able to spend so much time with us this December.”

 

Chris, his inevitable smile finally reaching his face, hugged his dad back. “I'm happy that I have been able to as well. I absolutely adore hanging out with my family.”

 

Maddie, who appeared to be even drunken than she had been earlier, smiled. “And Chris, you're the most amazing stepson a woman could ask for,” she announced, her southern accent slurred.

 

Strand smiled before he lifted his wine glass and tapped against it lightly with his fork. Once he had garnered the groups attention he grabbed Thomas’ hand and grinned at the others. “Thomas and I didn't come here tonight just to watch Maddie get drunk and bring way too much money worth of desserts, we have a little announcement to make.” He turned to his boyfriend and prompted him to continue.

 

Thomas nodded and began to speak, his slight Scottish accent eager. “So anyhow, Victor and I have been discussing something for a while now and, since it wasn't always a definite, we haven’t brought it up with anyone other than us until now. Considering that Victor and I are in a serious relationship, and have been for a fair while now, we’ve commonly discussed the idea of extending our family. It's obvious that doing this naturally isn't possible for Victor and I so adoption had been our main option.” He turned to Strand, it was the other man’s turn to continue the story.

 

“So Thomas and I, after many serious discussions, put our names down on a waiting list. We were told that we may never get contacted and that the list was very long so it was a huge surprise when Thomas got a phone call last week saying that we had the option to adopt a pair of twins.” He paused in order to take in the looks of surprise on all of the people's faces. “A girl and a boy, they're both three years old. Their mother, who was a junkie, died of an overdose just recently and they've been in the care of the state since. Their social worker hadn't wanted to separate them but all of the other potential couples had only wanted one or the other.”

 

Thomas smiled, “The social worker had asked us to consider it carefully but Strand and I already know what we want to do.” He pulled his iPhone out of the breast pocket of his shirt and opened the camera roll, “meet Tiffany and Jonathan Strand-Abigail.” He held up a photo of a pair of dark haired children. The young girl had a giant smile on her face while the boy was looking away from the camera.

 

Strand grinned, “we met them yesterday and Tiffany is painfully outgoing while Jonathan appears to be the shyer of the two.”

 

Alicia beamed, the first of the crowd to finally put in their input. “When do you get them?”

 

“Sometime in the week after Christmas, it was all very rush rush,” Thomas replied. “Supposably it's a very busy time of the year and the quicker that we can take them home the better.”

 

“This is amazing,” Travis laughed. “I can't believe it.”

 

Madison stood up and pulled her best friend into a drunken hug. “You're gonna be a daddy and I'm gonna be that cool aunt that buys gifts and the kids adore.”

 

“They're adorable,” Nick announced, referring to the photo. “That's super sad what happened to their mom though.”

 

“It was probably in their best interest though, imagine the kids growing up surrounded by drugs and all that shit,” Ofelia declared. “Strand, I'm sure that you and Thomas are both going to make amazing parents.”

 

“I can't wait to meet them,” Chris smiled a wide grin. “Congratulations guys.”

 

Luciana wrapped her arms around Nick, “I love little kids, this is the best Christmas news ever.”

 

Strand grinned, even wider this time. “I'm so happy that you're all so excited for us,” he began. “I promise as soon as we get them settled in, we’ll have to have you all over to meet them.”

 

Alicia glanced around at the group. Her mom was cuddled against Travis, Luciana was practically sitting on Nick’s lap, Thomas was leaning slightly against Strand’s shoulder and both Chris and Ofelia were grinning giant grins. She loved her family, no matter how large, loud and messy it was. They all made each other happy, and that was something that most definitely made the teenage girl happy, herself.


	15. Chapter 15

Day 15 - the 15th of December: The Gingerbread House

 

“Alicia, seriously, there is a time and a place for homework and neither of those things are now, ten days before Christmas.” Nick Clark announced as he sat himself down at the kitchen table, a large cardboard box in front of him. He glanced at his sister, who was focusing all of her attention on her laptop screen. 

 

“This essay is for English and it's due tomorrow. I haven't finished it because of you and all your ample distractions so it would be great if you just shut up and let me get on with it.” Alicia rolled her eyes and proceeded in turning her music up, letting Spotify pump through her Apple earbuds.

 

“Leesha are you honestly forgetting that our mom is screwing your English teacher? If that doesn't get you an extension, I don't know what will.”

 

“I don't use Travis for things like that. Just because he lives with us and is practically my dad it doesn't mean that I automatically get straight ‘A’s.”

 

“That's just because you're a goody two shoes!” Nick rolled his eyes, “honestly though, I think it's about time that we made a gingerbread house. Luci and I bought this do it yourself kit from the grocery store along with some packs of lollies that we can use to decorate it.”

 

Alicia sighed, “Fine, I just have it do this conclusion paragraph and then I'll send it to Travis for editing, have you seen him around?”

 

Nick shrugged, “I haven't seen him myself but I did hear mom giggling from their bedroom if that's anything to go on.”

 

The brunette screwed up her face in disgust, “too much information, but honestly Nick this essay counts for like twenty five percent of my semester grade.”

 

“Aren't I lucky that I have had to do any of this?”

 

“Seriously? I wouldn't go around bragging if I were you, Mr. Been Hooked on Drugs since Ninth Grade. At least mom will get to see one of us graduate.”

 

“Hey,” Nick quipped, mock offence in his tone. “I'm clean now and back on the straight and narrow. Anyway, mom’s still gonna see me graduate community college, we can't all be smart asses like you are.”

 

“Ofelia, they should seriously put you on ‘Dancing with the Stars’!” Chris suddenly declared, interrupting the sibling spat that had been occurring. He entered the room, Ofelia walking on one side of him, and Luciana on the other.

 

“I know, I'm like the goddamn king of the boob shake dance move,” the brunette replied with a smug grin.

 

“You two got so competitive though,” Luciana mused. “It's just a game.”

 

“But Chris is a bloody cheater.”

 

“Am not!”

 

“Are too!”

 

Nick glanced at the trio, “another Just Dance debacle, guys?”

 

Luciana slid into the dining chair beside the one her partner was seated in, “how ever did you know?”

 

“Let’s just say the arguing and the dance comments didn't leave much to the imagination.”

 

Alicia tapped down on the enter button on her keyboard, “okay, done, and sent to Travis for a drafting.”

 

Ofelia rose an eyebrow, “you know he's not going to see that right now. From what I heard through the walls, he seems to be rather tied up at the moment, and I mean that literally.”

 

“Eww! Why must this family be so disgusting?” Alicia rolled her eyes.

 

Luciana grinned and turned to her boyfriend, “baby, why's the gingerbread house kit there?”

 

“Because we need to make this gingerbread house soon and it's probably best to do it with Chris here.”

 

Chris beamed, “hell yeah, I love gingerbread.”

 

“Do we have any candy?” Ofelia queried, “we made one of these at school when I was younger and I think my class practically ate the entire thing before it was even finished.”

 

Alicia grinned, “we made one with mom once, it was actually so much fun.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

December 2007

 

Madison Clark exhaled as she examined her reflection in the mirror of her ensuite. Her eye was well and truly black, by now, which honestly wasn't surprising given how hard he had hit her a couple of days earlier. She twisted the lid off of her concealer and began to attempt to blotch it out. 

 

I walked into the wall...no I was playing soccer with my son and the ball hit me in the face…

 

She was honestly sick of keeping track of the lies, claiming that she'd fallen down stairs (ignoring the fact that she lived in a one storey house), telling people that she'd burnt herself cooking and that she'd accidentally cut herself with a knife.

 

Bruises were scattered over her left arm and there was a large gash out of her right one. He'd been angry last night, come home late from work, found her with a bottle in hand, and had taken out his frustrations on her. It was terrible to admit, but she was used to it now. She didn't deserve it, but she knew she couldn't stop him. She couldn't leave him, she couldn't divorce him. She knew if she did he'd fight for the kids, fight for custody, and what was stopping him from winning? He was a hardworking, LA based builder, she was an alcoholic. He could hit her, he could beat her, she'd been enduring it her entire life, she didn't care as long as he didn't hurt them.

 

She tugged her sleeves down and let out a sigh. He was at work now, and she was left home alone with her kids. It was Christmas time and when she had been at the grocery store picking up the shopping she had grabbed a gingerbread house kit.

 

“Alicia, Nick, what are you two doing? Do you want to help mommy make a gingerbread house?”

 

Nick, her ten year old son, rushed toward her with a large grin on his face. “Hell yeah, can we eat some candy as we do it?”

 

Maddie chuckled, “of course we can baby.” She stepped forward and ruffled his long, ratty, brown hair, which he refused to get cut. 

 

“I want to help too!” Alicia skipped over to her mother and brother, her brown hair in two high pigtails. 

 

“Of course you can Leesha, you're the best at this creative stuff.” Nick embraced his little sister tightly. They possessed a closeness that warmed their mother’s heart. She'd always wished herself for a sibling and the special bond that she saw her children share.

 

“Thanks Nick, but mommy can you help make the actual house first?”

 

Maddie shrugged, “I can try, but don't get angry if I mess up.”

 

Her son beamed, “I can always help you if you need it.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“So I'm going to do the structure,” Alicia began as she scratched the tape off of the box with her nail. “OFELIA STOP EATING THE CANDY!” the brunette slapped her friend's hand.

 

“Sorry!” Ofelia murmured through a mouthful of raspberry candies.

 

“Nick, you too!” Alicia scowled at her brother.

 

Chris smiled, “can I do the icing?”

 

The older girl nodded and passed her stepbrother the piping bag. “Just don't make too much of a mess.”

 

Luciana grinned, “awww, it looks adorable.” She squeezed Nick’s hand, “It’s like a little house.”

 

Chris glanced up, he had just finished putting the roof on, and he was piping the tiles onto the roof.

 

“Do we seriously have to wait for Christmas before we eat this?” Nick queried as he placed a piece of candy against the icing.

 

Alicia grimaced, “yes, we seriously do.”

 

“Always spoiling our fun, Leesha!” Nick elbowed his sister playfully as she rolled her eyes.


	16. Chapter 16

Day 16 - the 16th of December: the Sugar-Fueled Binge

 

“It's honestly bizarre not having Chris around, isn't it guys?” Alicia Clark mused as she stood up and paced around the living room. Chris, her younger step brother had been forced to return home to his mother's house earlier that day and, surprisingly enough, all of the kids were already beginning to miss him.

 

“It is a bit odd,” Ofelia replied as she glanced at her friend. “I keep expecting him to throw some smart ass comment our way. 

 

“He’ll be back in under a week, I think he arrives next Wednesday and stays until New Year’s Day,” Nick clarified.

 

“I sort of feel bad for his mom,” Alicia shrugged. “Imagine being home alone on Christmas.”

 

“Chris said she's having some new boyfriend stay over with her,” Luciana glanced up from the screen of her iPad. “I think she's going to be fine.”

 

“Well in that case, I suppose you're right,” Ofelia murmured.

 

It was a Saturday evening and the four young people were just lounging around aimlessly in the living room. Travis had cooked a curry for dinner, which had been nice, and now the adults were locked in their room, not at all to anyone’s surprise.

 

“Do you want to watch something on Netflix?” Nick asked from his cosy position on the sofa.

 

“I'm really enjoying ‘Jessica Jones’,” Ofelia replied with a smile.

 

Alicia nodded, “yeah that or Gilmore Girls.”

 

Luciana, who was leaning against Nick, just grinned. “I don't mind, anything’s fine.”

 

Ofelia lifted her phone up suddenly to reveal the Pinterest app, which was open on the screen. “How about we make some hot cocoas or peppermint lattes first?”

 

“They look amazing,” Nick mused as he took the phone from his friend’s hands. “I need this in my life.”

 

Luciana stood up from the couch, “then let’s do it.”

 

Alicia grinned before she followed her friend into the kitchen, “dibs on the first peppermint latte.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Okay, Nick you can go grab the candy canes from the cupboard, could please warm of mugs of milk in the microwave Ofelia, and Luci can you please melt on chocolate chips on the stovetop?” Alicia called out some orders as she read from the recipe on her phone.

 

“Alright,” Luciana began as she tapped on the stove and placed a saucepan on one of the stovetop circles. “I'm on it.”

 

“How many packs of candy canes?”

 

Alicia rolled her eyes. “Only one Nick, how many of you guys want a peppermint latte?”

 

As it turned out, it was just Alicia and Luciana who wanted the lattes, while Nick and Ofelia settled for the hot cocoas. 

 

“So you want me to boil the water?” Nick asked Alicia as he glanced at the teakettle.

 

“Sure, that chocolate looks amazing Luci.”

 

“Out the way!” Ofelia declared suddenly as she pushed through the crowd toward the saucepan. She leaned forward, scooping the brown mixture onto a spoon, before she slipped it into her mouth. “Damn! This tastes amazing.”

 

Nick plucked the spoon from between the older brunette’s fingers and licked off the remaining chocolate. “You are right ‘Felia, this is spectacular.”

 

“Ewww! Did you really just lick that spoon straight after Ofelia?” Alicia shuddered as she gave her brother a look of disgust.

 

“I’ve done worse, back in my drug days I even shared syringes-”

 

Alicia shook her head. “Please stop, I honestly don't need to know.”

 

Nick shrugged, “not my proudest moment, I must admit.”

 

Luciana glanced at the others, she was still stirring the pot, “so what next?”

 

“You get the chocolate,” Alicia began after she checked her phone one last time. “And you dump it in the warm milk.”

 

“I'll mix the peppermint powder into two of them then,” Ofelia added. “Then I'll add some of the chocolate.”

 

“Leave some chocolate in the pan though,” Nick smiled a sly grin.

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Okay, Alicia, Luci, drop your candy canes in and then we can go.” Nick prompted. To tell the truth, he was honestly tired of standing around the kitchen and he was craving the binge watch more and more with every passing moment.

 

“You want some marshmallows in your’s Nick?” Ofelia asked as she tore open a pink packet. “I'm having some in mine.”

 

“Yeah, toss ‘em in!” Nick grinned at his friend. “Keep in mind that the pink ones are my favourite.”

 

“Done,” Alicia announced as she precariously placed the candy cane in her mug. “Okay, everyone could you please put your drinks around mine, I need a photo for my Instagram…”

 

“And one for our blog as well!”

 

All four decided that it a good opportunity for a photo and they proceeded in snapping a heap of pictures. 

 

“I'll tag you all in mine,” Nick laughed as he tapped away at the Instagram app on his phone.

 

After the photos were uploaded everyone eventually settled down on the sofa. Nick and Luciana both cuddled on one of the armchairs and Alicia sat beside her friend on the larger sofa. Ofelia had the pot of melted chocolate balanced on a cushion on her lap and both herself and the younger brunette were shovelling the remnants into their mouths.

 

“Leesh, ‘Felia, leave some of that for Luci and I.” Nick declared as he picked up the remote, “I'm putting Netflix on, any requests?”

 

“Orange is the New Black or Jessica Jones?” Ofelia suggested.

 

Alicia cocked an eyebrow, “maybe The 100 or Gilmore Girls?”

 

Luciana shrugged, “I'm enjoying them all, you can be the tie breaker baby.”

 

“Well in that case we’ll have to go with Orange is the New Black, I am desperate to finally finish it.”

 

Alicia grinned, “fine by me.”

 

“Me too.”

 

“Me three.”

 

And with that, Nick hit the play button.


	17. Chapter 17

Day 17 - the 17th of December: The Mall

 

Nick Clark felt a smile slip onto his face. This was good, this was what he wanted his life to be like. Oddly enough, he was finally happy, and being happy most definitely felt good.

 

He was no longer a junkie, a Heroin addict, a disappointment. He hadn't been any of those things for about a year and he knew that he never wanted to revert back to that lifestyle ever again. Christmas was fast approaching and this year, instead of sitting in squalor with a needle in his vein, he was instead celebrating with some of his absolute favourite people.

 

The young man glanced at his friends. Luciana was standing directly beside him, her arm intertwined with his, and she was dressed in a button down blouse, some salmon coloured jeans and ballet flats with a pair of sunglasses perched atop her loose mane of black curls. He loved the girl entirely, with every fibre of his being and she was partially responsible for keeping him clean, solely due to the fact that he realised he loved her more than drugs.

 

Alicia, his sister was strolling along on the other side of him. The brunette had her hair down and was wearing an oversized red t-shirt and a pair of black denim shorts with some converse sneakers on her feet.

 

He watched as Ofelia wrapped an arm affectionately around her best friend's shoulders before she earned an eyeroll. The older girl was clothed in a tight black t-shirt and a some white torn jeans. Nick thought quickly about his own outfit, he was wearing a denim short sleeve shirt, some beige Capri pants, black converse and a pair of black sunglasses that were resting in his mass of ratty brown hairs.

 

“So where are we going first?” Alicia glanced up at her brother, who was still lost in his own thoughts. They'd been planning to hit the mall as a group since back at the start of December yet, with school, uni, community college and part time jobs being a factor, they hadn't gotten around to it until today. The plan was to get Madison and Travis some gifts as well as each make sure that they had their Secret Santa present.

 

Nick grinned, he was chewing contently on a piece of bubblegum. “I'm not too sure, I know we need to go to the bookshop to get a book for Travis and I still don't know what to get mom.”

 

Ofelia rolled her eyes, “buy her a bottle of something, I promise that she’ll love it.”

 

“We were considering doing that, but we need to get her something else as well,” Alicia replied.

 

“Maybe we could get her one of those novelty t-shirts that they sell in the department store?” Luciana suggested with a smile. “You know, the one’s with funny things written on them?”

 

“That's quite a good idea,” Nick squeezed his girlfriend’s hand. “We’ll stop by the department store.”

 

“We might also be able to buy some perfume for mom and cologne for Travis, isn't that the best option for parents?” Ofelia added, “I'm getting my father a bottle of Scotch and my mom a vase of flowers.”

 

Alicia smiled, “that's a lovely idea. My mom would scoff at the flowers and take the Scotch, I'm sure.”

 

“I haven't known her long but I definitely agree,” Luciana turned to Alicia. “Your mom is lovely but she does like her drinks.”

 

“Stating the obvious, babe,” Nick leaned down and pressed his lips to the top of her head. “And we could always get Travis some boxers, isn't that a good go to dad gift idea?”

 

Ofelia chuckled, “poor Travis, imagine him opening up four separate wrapped gifts that are all pairs of boxer shorts.”

 

“Why don't we go into Target then?” Nick pointed at the large storefront partway down the mall. “Boxer shorts are cheap in there.”

 

“Fine,” Alicia began. “But can we stop in MAC afterwards? I need some more makeup.”

 

Nick grinned, “sure.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“So we have a pack of Calvin Klein's for Travis and I've picked something up for my Secret Santa,” Ofelia listed off. 

 

“Can you give us a clue about who it is?” Nick begged.

 

“Go away Nick, you'll have to wait and see.”

 

“Do any of you guys need makeup or anything?” Alicia queried as she slipped her iPhone into the back pocket of her shorts.

 

“Maybe a new lipstick,” Luciana replied.

 

“And I need an eyeshadow palette, considering that someone emptied mine and never offered to buy me a new one.” Ofelia flashed Nick a death stare.

 

Considering that he'd never finished twelfth grade, and he'd been using for a majority of his entire high school education, Nick knew that he was probably never going to go to university. Instead, he'd gone to community college and had decided to study makeup design, having become rather good at it whilst playing around with Alicia as a child. The girls had mocked him at first but he had been adamant that makeup has no gender and eventually learned that they were just all jealous that a boy was better at blending eyeshadow than they were.

 

“I'm sorry, I've apologised numerous times,” Nick shook his head. “We had to experiment on these paper templates for class and your palette was on the table.”

 

Ofelia sighed, “fine, but I do expect to be able to get my makeup done for free, for the rest of my life, as soon as you graduate.”

 

“Deal,” Nick held out his hand. “Let's shake on it.”

 

Ofelia took her friend's hand and shook it up and down rather aggressively, “deal.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

A good hour later the foursome had gathered an array of gifts. They had found a t-shirt for Maddie (Alicia had discovered it and insisted upon purchasing it as it read; ‘I love my kids and my drinks, but not always in that order’), a couple of fictional books that they decided Travis would enjoy (he seemed to be quite the fan of chick lit and wasn't at all afraid to admit it) and they had all practiced their sleuth skills and purchased the necessary Secret Santa gifts.

 

“I'm famished!” Alicia began, her voice painfully melodramatic, as they all entered the underground food court. “If I don't eat something right now I'm going to fade away.”

 

“Sure thing Alicia, stop acting like you haven't eaten in years when we all saw you scoff down those toaster waffles for breakfast this morning,” Ofelia rolled her eyes.

 

“Alicia does have a point though,” Luciana tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I'd like some lunch.”

 

“Yeah, I want some McDonalds!” Nick chimed in.

 

“Eww, Nick, gross,” Alicia shook her head in disgust. “I'd much rather some sushi rolls.”

 

Luciana nodded and threw her arms enthusiastically around her friend, “I'm with you.”

 

“Well I'm having McDonalds with Nick,” Ofelia ruffled the male’s hair playfully.

 

“Let’s split, I’ll go with ‘Felia to McDonalds and you two girls can go grab your sushi and meet us at one of these tables,” Nick motioned around the area he was standing in.

 

“Alright, see you in five.” Alicia tapped her brother on the shoulder and Luciana leaned in to give him a quick kiss.

 

Ofelia turned to her friend, “so I take it it's just going to be you, me and a ton of saturated fat.”

 

“Sounds bloody spectacular.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Ofelia, quit stealing my fries,” Nick slammed his hand down atop his friend’s in a failed attempt to prevent her from consuming any more of his food. “Eat your own!”

 

“I've eaten them all already,” Ofelia murmured sheepishly.

 

“You two should have just had sushi,” Luciana interjected, her Mexican accent thick.

 

“Sushi’s okay but it's not as good as this Big Mac,” Nick took a bite out of his burger.

 

“Agree to disagree, big bro!” Alicia finished her last roll and pulled the rubber band back onto the plastic container.

 

The ex junkie shrugged, “agree to disagree.”


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18 - the 18th of December: The Crafty Christmas Cards

 

She was still asleep when he woke up that morning. Wow, that was rare. He knew that she'd probably spent half the night in the back of her car drinking, but still, he liked nothing more than waking up and finding her nestled in his arms. 

 

He lay there, on the mattress, completely still, for what felt like an eternity, just gazing at her. He examined her every visible inch, every part of her that wasn't obscured by the sheet that lay tousled over their legs, or by his own form that she was curled into. He found his fingers running through her thick, dyed blonde curls. He'd never seen her as a brunette, beside that one time with the wig on Halloween, and given the severe lack of her childhood photos, he doubted that he ever would end up seeing it for real. She was beautiful, not in a conventional, cliched way, but in a way that was her own. She looked rough around the edges, tired, beaten, haunted but still beautiful. When his ex wife had left him, he doubted that he would ever find anyone else, but that was before she had entered his life. A walking mess, a disaster, his affirmation as to the reason why storms were named after people, and most probably, what he felt to be, the best thing that had ever happened to him. People had asked why he had fallen for someone so defiant, headstrong, independent and cold when he could have settled for a nice, quiet, sweet girl. He'd wondered this himself, but just one glance at her was all the clarification he would ever need. Her essence, her being, her existence, alone, drowned him of any doubt.

 

She was naked. He supposed that that would be a turn on for most men, yet in that moment of time sex was just about the last thing on his mind. He was just happy to see her asleep, at peace, free of the nightmares that plagued her. Oh so often he'd been woken to her sobs and had found her shaking. He couldn't blame her, just looking at the scars, burns and blemishes that marred her flesh shook him to his very core. He knew her mother had been vacant, having up and left just after Maddie was born, that her father had abused her, touched her, done things that he didn't even want to think about, and that her husband had been just as bad. He was surprised that she could even keep going after everything that she had endured, yet he still wasn't sure whether it was him or the alcohol that made her get out of bed every morning. She was an alcoholic, a functioning one, but one nonetheless. She would down bottle after bottle until she was blackout drunk and he knew for a fact that her children had endured her drunken rage before, seen their mother in a way that she hoped they'd never have to endure.

 

Aside from the scars, which were constant reminders of the pain, a scattering of mismatched small tattoos marked her flesh. She used them to remind her that things had gotten better, that times were changing, that she didn't have to be hurting anymore. She was very thoughtful about what she got inked and he liked that. She had his name written on her back, it was copied in his writing, and he had the opposite on his own flesh. On her right wrist she had a tiny heart and on her forearm, just below her elbow, she had the word ‘always’. He had the exact same tattoos copied onto him, which he knew wouldn't be good if they ever split, but he doubted that that would ever happen. On her other wrist she had the initials N.C., which stood for her son, beside a small heart. Under her left breast she had the word ‘you’ inked and her ankle was marked with her children’s names written in italics.

 

He leaned down and pressed his lips to the top of her head, feeling her soft hairs against her face. He inhaled deeply, breathing in her scent. She smelt of shampoo, and a cheap perfume, with hints of Vodka and cigarette smoke laced in. Once upon a time these smells would have deterred him yet now they didn't even phase him in the slightest. 

 

“Trav, babe,” she murmured sleepily as her large, hazel eyes fluttered open. “How long have you been awake and pervin’ on sleepin’ me?”

 

He adored her thick Southern accent. Born and raised in Alabama, it helped to set her aside from every other woman he had ever met. He ran his hand slowly down her side before he let it settle on her thigh. “Not long, Angel,” he replied into her hair. “You just looked so peaceful, I couldn't wake you.”

 

“Go away,” she rolled her eyes and pressed her hands playfully against his bare chest. “You coulda woken me.”

 

“You haven't been sleeping well lately and I wanted to ensure that you got the best sleep possible.”

 

She grabbed one of his large, brown hands and squeezed it in her own. “You're too goddamn good to me, Travis.”

 

He squeezed back. “No, I'm really not. I'm just treating you like you deserve to be treated.”

 

The blonde nestled her face back against his chocolate coloured chest and shook her head, “well then you're probably the first person who's ever treated me how I deserve to be treated.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

Madison flicked at her lighter and watched as the flame caught on before she lit the tip of a cigarette. She pursed her lips around the other end and inhaled rapidly. She wasn't as hooked on smoking as she was on drinking but she enjoyed her cigarettes regardless.

 

She took another drag and glanced out across the pristine blue water of the pool. She liked LA weather, it meant that she never got too hot or too cold, a bit different to the Alabama weather she was used to when she was growing up.

 

Her form was clothed in nothing beside one of Travis’ button down shirts, which wasn't entirely buttoned in the first place, and gave off a fair view of her ample cleavage. She carefully dipped her left foot into the water, feeling her bare toes grow damp.

 

“SHIT!” 

 

She shrieked as she stumbled, careful not to lose her footing, as she felt a pair of arms envelope her from behind. Realising, moments later, what it was, she turned around and rolled her eyes. “Babe, I almost fell in the goddamn pool,” she found, much to her chagrin, that she was laughing. 

 

He was giggling hysterically as he squeezed her even tighter, “I wanted to surprise you.” He pressed his lips against her’s, “and I swear I would never let you fall in.”

 

“I trust you but I definitely don’t trust your skills, knowing you and your clumsiness, we’d both plummet.”

 

Travis sighed and rolled his eyes, “Ye of little faith.”

 

“Ye of absolutely no faith.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“What are y’all doin’?” Maddie queried as she sat herself down at the kitchen table. Both her children, as well as Luciana and Ofelia, were seated around the tabletop. A mess was strewn across the wood that consisted of what looked to be craft supplies and in front of all four young adults a piece of folded card was placed.

 

“Christmas card craft,” Nick replied without even looking up from the tree he appeared to be attempting to draw. It wasn't just an addictive gene that the woman had in common with her son, they both couldn't draw to save their lives either.

 

“Ooh can I do one too?” Travis smiled enthusiastically as reached out and dragged a spare piece of card toward him.

 

“Of course,” Alicia smiled at her stepdad. Maddie adored the relationship her youngest child shared with her boyfriend. At first both Nick and Alicia had been wary of Travis and unwilling to accept him but, by now, they both looked at him like he was their biological father. “You should do one too, mom.”

 

Maddie shook her head, “oh I don't know-”

 

“Come on Angel, you can make me one,” Travis squeezed her hand.

 

“Fine,” the blonde rolled her eyes. “But you all have to promise that you won't make fun of me.”

 

Ofelia chuckled, “you can't be that bad, you haven't seen my reindeer.” She lifted her card and spun it around to face the older woman.

 

“That can't be a reindeer, it looks like the shit emoji,” Maddie rose an eyebrow.

 

Luciana began to laugh, “that's exactly what I said to her.”

 

“You guys are being mean.”

 

Nick grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You're right ‘Felia, that poor emoji poop, it doesn't look that bad.”

 

Maddie glanced over Travis’ shoulder and peered at his picture. So far he had scrawled a messy sketch of a blonde woman with a pair of, what seemed to be, wings and a halo floating over her head. “Is that supposed to be me?”

 

Travis blushed, he was a rather shy guy, “yeah because she's an angel and so are you, Angel.”

 

“It's amazing Travis,” Alicia smiled. “Much better than mine,” she held up her own drawing of Peanut the cat wearing a Christmas hat.

 

“I can't really draw so I just did this,” Luciana announced as he displayed her handiwork. The Mexican girl had just written ‘Merry Christmas’ in large but neat block letters.

 

“That's lovely Luciana,” Travis smiled. “What did you do Maddie?”

 

The blonde sighed, “it’s pretty awful,” she slid her paper over to her boyfriend. Along the front in a black marker, she'd scrawled two stick figures holding hands. “There's no one I’d rather spend Christmas with than you.”

 

“What about with me mom?” Nick asked, a look of mock disappointment on face.

 

Maddie rolled her eyes, “there's no one I'd rather spend Christmas with than all of you.”


	19. Chapter 19

Day 19 - the 19th of December: The Netflixathon

 

“So it's that festive time of the year again!” Nick chorused as he bounded into the bedroom that Alicia shared with Ofelia. Both the girls were seated on Alicia’s bed with a blanket over their heads whilst they were peering curiously at an iPad screen. His girlfriend had gone to some secret appointment about a half hour earlier and his mom and Travis were both doing work at the desk in their room.

 

“And why are you interrupting us just to say that?” Alicia rolled her eyes and paused whatever video was playing.

 

“You can come watch this new Rclbeauty video with us,” Ofelia tapped the bed beside her.

 

Nick grinned, “I would, but I've already seen it. I came in here to ask if you two wanted to have a Christmas movie marathon with me. It's that time of the year when festive movies are the best thing known to man.”

 

“And woman,” Ofelia added. “But yeah, that actually sounds like fun.”

 

“Do you think we should wait for Luciana though?” Alicia rose an eyebrow.

 

Nick shrugged. “I don't think she’ll mind, we can go make some microwave popcorn and everything.”

 

“What movies do you guys want to see?” Ofelia lead the other two into the kitchen. She opened a cupboard and removed a pack of extra buttery popcorn.

 

“Definitely Home Alone,” Alicia laughed. “I watched that years ago with Nick.” She glanced nostalgically across the room and let out a sigh. That had been Christmas a good ten years ago. Their mom had been drunk, like scary drunk, and their dad wasn't home, so Nick had suggested that they both watched a movie to take their minds off everything. She knew that her big brother always had a skill when it came to making her feel better and she was sure that he could see that she was probably a bit scared that day. He had brought her into his bedroom, locked the door, and together they'd watched Home Alone on his PC. The young girl had fallen asleep straight after the movie and her brother had just tucked her into his bed, not daring to carry her back to her own room in case she were to wake up.

 

“I remember that, you loved that movie, Leesha.”

 

Ofelia grinned, she adored their sibling bond. “I want to watch Love Actually and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

 

“Oh and we can't forget The Holiday!” Nick announced just as the microwave pinged and he pulled the pack out. “Do we all want to share one big bowl or separate small ones?”

 

“One big one, it makes for less washing up.” Alicia replied. “And I think we need something to drink,” she tugged the fridge open and removed a large bottle. “Fuze iced tea good with you guys?”

 

Ofelia pulled three glasses out of the cupboard, “Luci can grab one herself if she wants it when she gets back.”

 

“Awesome,” Nick dropped some ice cubes into the drinks and smiled. “Home Alone first guys?”

 

“Definitely,” Alicia found herself pull her brother in for a hug. “We haven't seen it together in years.”

 

“Grab the popcorn Nick and I'll get the drinks,” Ofelia smiled. “Let's go.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

A loud knock sounded at the bedroom door and Nick quickly paused the movie. They were only about halfway through Home Alone but the drink glasses and the popcorn were well and truly empty.

 

Alicia stood up and strolled toward the door, expecting that it would most probably be Travis or her mom, and she tugged it open. 

 

Luciana smiled from the hallway, “hey, Maddie said you are all watching movies and I came to join in.”

 

The brunette smiled, “yeah sure, we’re just going to refill our drinks and snacks first though.” She paused, “how was your appointment?”

 

Luciana, who appeared to be slightly thrown off by the question, tilted her head awkwardly to the side. “It, ah, it was fine, just a check up.”

 

Alicia shrugged, “great, come on, let’s get something to eat.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

They all regained their positions on the ground around the MacBook. Nick tapped the spacebar and Home Alone whirred back to life. Alicia watched as Luciana nestled against Nick, her head resting against his chest, and his arms wound tightly around her. She missed sharing cuddles with Matt, those special make out sessions in the bleachers. They'd never gone further than kissing though, she hadn't wanted too. She saw how happy her mom was with Travis, how happy her brother was with Luci, and she knew that she wanted to wait for a person that made her feel that way. She wanted to first time to be special, to be something that she would remember.

 

Ofelia turned to her friend, obviously noticing that something was ever so slightly off. “What's up Leeshy? You look a bit distant.”

 

Alicia shrugged, “Matt,” she replied solemnly.

 

“That guy’s a jerk, don't let him spoil our fun.”

 

“I know ‘Felia, but we spent last Christmas together and I'm not sure what it's gonna be like without him.”

 

The older girl rolled her eyes, “boys are terrible,” she began as she wrapped an arm around her bestie’s shoulders and pulled her closer. “We’re all going to spend Christmas together, and I'm sure as hell that it's gonna be amazing.”

 

Nick grinned, “I can second that notion.”

 

Both girls flashed him a dirty look. “Eavesdropper!” 

 

X-X-X-X

 

“I'm actually completely and entirely exhausted!” Nick declared enthusiastically as he pulled the MacBook lid closed.

 

Ofelia let out a yawn, “well aren't you being a bit loud considering that you're so tired?”

 

“And Chris will not stop texting,” Alicia slammed her phone down onto the carpeted ground and rolled her eyes. “It's like two in the morning, shouldn't he be asleep?”

 

“What's he saying?” Luciana glanced up groggily, she'd slept through the entire last movie.

 

“Just about how he's so excited for Wednesday and he's asking what to bring and all that shit,” the brunette replied.

 

Nick glanced at his sister and shrugged. “Tell him to grab some clothes, DVDs, if he'd like, and maybe a few snacks.”

 

“Oh,” Ofelia turned to Alicia, “also make sure he brings some of those new XBox games that I've been dying to play.”

 

“Will do,” the brunette was already tapping quickly against the screen of her phone. “And then I'll make sure he gets to bed, I don't want Liza to ring up Travis and tear shreds out of the man if Chris falls asleep in class tomorrow.”

 

Luciana tugged lightly on Nick’s cotton shirt, “then can we get to bed too Nicky? I'm just feeling so tired.”

 

“Sure,” the ex junkie peered at his two other friends. “Are you girls going to sleep too?”

 

Ofelia shook her head, a sly grin on her face, “maybe later, but for now Leeshy and I are desperate to watch more Breaking Bad.”

 

“No fair,” Nick whined miserably. “Why don't you two let me watch it as well?”

 

“For the same reason a gambling addict shouldn't go into a casino,” Alicia rolled her eyes. “It's in your best interest Nicholas.”

 

“Honestly Leesh, you're sometimes worse than mom.”

 

“I'm your little sister, it's my job to keep you in line.”


	20. Chapter 20

Day 20 - the 20th of December: The Arrival

 

“So your son’s coming after school huh?” Madison Clark murmured into her pillow. It was about seven in the morning and both the woman and her boyfriend had been awake since five. Neither of them could sleep so they'd ended up engaging in some early morning sex, you know, the kind when they were both slightly sleepy and happily contented.

 

Travis ran one of his hands up the woman’s bare back before he pressed his lips into the small of her neck, “Nick said he'd pick him up.”

 

Maddie rolled over, so that she was laying flat on her back, and tilted her face inquisitively. “What's Liza sayin’ about all of this?”

 

“She's not impressed, especially since Chris is so excited to be coming. I'm feeling bad, I don't want her to spend Christmas alone.”

 

“Babe,” the blonde rose an eyebrow, “she's the one who left you, I don't wanna have you blamin’ yourself if she's actin’ shitty.”

 

Travis sighed, “I know, I know, but Christmas is a time for family.”

 

“And that's why you get to spend it with me and the kids, we’re all your family, Trav.”

 

“Yeah, you definitely aren't Liza.” 

 

The woman watched as her partner’s eyes drifted from her face down to her exposed chest, “someone likes to ogle at my boobs, huh?”

 

“I'm not…” his face grew red.

 

“Aww, I actually don't mind, ogle all you'd like babe,” she paused and lifted the sheet ever so slightly in order to give her a nice view of his crotch. “As long as I'm allowed a quick peak as well.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Hey guys!” Chris declared enthusiastically as he hurried into the room, Nick, who was lugging a large duffel bag, following closely behind.

 

“Hi Chris,” Alicia smiled up from the sofa where she was seated.

 

“Chris!” Ofelia cried as she threw her arms around the boy. Chris and Ofelia had the strangest of friendships, they'd never really had much in common but that didn't seem to stop them from getting along well and by this point he had practically become her little brother.

 

“‘Felia, great to see you.”

 

Luciana strolled casually toward Chris, her hair was tied in a thick braid and she was wearing some denim shorts and a loose orange t-shirt. “I haven't seen you in ages.”

 

The boy, seemingly not at all phased by being pulled into an abundance of girls’ tight hugs, smiled. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you all for ages now, I still can't believe that mom let me come.” Liza wasn't at all a bad mother, but she most definitely was overprotective toward her only child. More often than not, she treated Chris like a tiny baby and that was something he was beginning to grow sick of. 

 

“I can't believe it either,” Alicia rose a perfectly arched eyebrow. “She really doesn't like mom.” The girl loved Maddie, of course she did, she was her mom, but that didn't prevent her from seeing where Liza was coming from. Her mother was an alcoholic, a high functioning one definitely, but one nonetheless, and she wasn't always the best influence. There had been times when Alicia had been terrified by the woman, by what she was capable of, by what she could do once she'd had one too many. It was only when Nick and Travis were there that she felt truly safe. Travis may not have been her real dad but he sure did a better job at parenting than her mom ever had.

 

Nick shrugged, “she's probably just jealous that Travis has moved on.”

 

Ofelia sipped a can of Coke that had been sitting on the coffee table, “I thought you said that your mom had a new man or something.”

 

“Yeah, some guy from med school,” Chris screwed up his face. “But he's actually gross, he just wants to get into mom’s pants and I don't even think he loves her at all. You see with dad and Maddie, they're in love, it's obvious, but this guys just a douche.”

 

“Eww, I hate creeps.” Nick shook his head, “I might be a bit of a jerk but I still possess the ability to respect people.”

 

“She’ll probably spend Christmas with him,” Alicia replied. 

 

Luciana sipped her orange juice glass. “Well then I bet you're happy that you're here with us.” 

 

“What's with all these drinks? Can I have one?”

 

Ofelia rolled her eyes, “sorry Chris, come with me to the kitchen and we’ll fix you up with something.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

A large glass of coke was poured and Chris sat himself down at the table. All of the others sat around the large wooden tabletop, as well, with their own drinks and a heaped bowl of popcorn was positioned at the centre.

 

“So what exactly did you pack?” Alicia queried her stepbrother as she peered across the room at his large duffel bag. She was seated on one of the dining chairs, her legs against her chest and her chin resting between her knees.

 

“Just the usual,” Chris replied. “I've got some clothes, a novel that I'm reading, my iPad, iPod, MacBook and iPhone-”

 

“So practically the entire Apple Store?” Ofelia cut in.

 

Chris rolled his eyes, “practically, and as I was saying,” he shot Ofelia a look, “I have also packed some chargers, the first season of Parks and Rec, which I'm dying to watch, all of the Christmas presents that I have so far and the new Fallout game for Ofelia.”

 

“Parks and Rec, huh?” Alicia rose her eyebrow again, “I've been wanting to start that forever, it's supposed to be funny.”

 

“I've seen a bit of it whilst channel surfing and it's not bad,” Nick grinned. “Amy Poehler is gold.”

 

“We could always start it tonight,” Luciana smiled sweetly and leaned her head against Nick.

 

“We should really get you unpacked first, though,” Ofelia stood up and pushed her chair in.

 

“Am I staying in Leesha and your room?” the boy queried.

 

“Yep,” Alicia smiled. “You can sleep on the floor on a quilt or something.”

 

“Shouldn't I at least get a bed?” Chris asked mockingly.

 

“This house is already over crowded enough, there is honestly no room for another bed,” Nick replied.

 

Luciana looked slightly uneasy, “you sure?”

 

“Yeah, we’d have to put it in the office and mom hasn't gone in there since dad…”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“So you're on the ground here,” Alicia pointed to a patch of carpet beside her bed. Only recently, probably a week earlier, both girls, with the help of Travis, had chipped in to buy a bunk bed as Ofelia couldn't sleep on the ground forever. Ofelia had claimed the top bunk and Alicia had happily settled for the bottom. 

 

“Okay,” Chris sat himself down on the ground and unzipped his duffel. “I'll leave my clothes in here but I'll get the rest of my stuff out.”

 

“Beep, beep, coming through,” Ofelia, whose face was partially by a huge rolled up quilt, stumbled into the room. She dumped it down into the ground directly onto of Chris and cracked up laughing.

 

“Hey, can someone get this off me? Seriously guys?” his voice was muffled by the thick material.

 

Alicia and Ofelia just glanced at each other and continued to giggle before the shorter girl freed her friend. 

 

“Here Chris, that better?”

 

“Much,” the boy huffed as he flattened the quilt on the ground. “I brought my pillow,” he began as he removed it from his bag.

 

“What's that?” Alicia crawled across the ground and tugged something out of the younger boy’s bag. She peered at it and realised that it was a plush, rather well loved, toy giraffe. She felt a smile slip onto her face, “this guy yours?”

 

Chris blushed, “I don't know where that came from…”

 

“Of course you do,” Ofelia laughed. “But it's nothing to be ashamed of,” she climbed up the ladder and pulled a worn elephant out from under her duvet. “This is Ellie, yes little kid me had a lot of creativity.”

 

A smile started to form on Chris’ face but before he could say anything, Alicia thrust another plushie in front of him. “This,” she motioned to a soft duck, “is Nick the duck, I called him Nick because little kiddie me idolised my brother so much.”

 

“This,” Chris scooped up the giraffe, “is Gerry Giraffe. My dad got him for me when I little.”

 

Ofelia grinned, “aww, he's a cutie.”

 

“We should sit all of our guys hanging off of the top bunk,” Alicia eagerly scooped up the toys and tucked all three on the edge of Ofelia’s mattress. “I'll be right back.”

 

A moment later the brunette girl returned clutching two more stuffed animals. One was a slightly grimy cow and the other was a brown bear. She sat them beside the other three and grinned. “Just had to grab Nick and Luci’s furry friends too.”

 

Chris smiled, “if I knew soft toys were this socially acceptable in the Clark house I would have brought Gerry out ages ago.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

By about ten that night Maddie and Travis had returned home from a staff meeting, the family had shared a dinner consisting of pizza, and the five young people had retreated to the girls’ room for some binge watching. They had all had showers, and complained about the line up to actually get into the bathroom, and now they were all pyjama-clad.

 

“So time for Parks and Recreation?” Alicia asked as she opened her MacBook, plugged the disc drive into one of the USB ports and slid the disc in.

 

“Yep,” Chris, who was bundled up like a burrito in one of the blankets, replied.

 

Luciana yawned and nestled herself closer against Nick, “if I fall asleep I'm sorry but I'm actually so exhausted.”

 

Nick smiled, “that's fine baby.”

 

Ofelia tapped the ground next to her, “Leeshy come back I want to start watching.”

 

“Impatient much?” Alicia grimaced before she smiled at the other girl, “I'm back.”

 

“Good,” the brunette ruffled her best friend's hair. “Let’s start.”

 

“Quick selfie first,” Nick held out his iPhone and snapped a picture. “Imma put it on ‘The Gram’.”

 

All four others rolled their eyes, Nick had taken to calling Instagram, ‘The Gram’, and it was beginning to piss everyone off.

 

“Posted,” Nick smiled and tapped down on the space bar. “Let’s watch!”


	21. Chapter 21

Day 21 - the 21st of December: The Sweaters

 

“They finally arrived!” Alicia Clark declared as she threw the front door open whilst still using one hand to clutch a large parcel to her chest.

 

Nick, who was congregated in the entrance hall along with Luciana, Ofelia and Chris, rose an eyebrow curiously. “What's finally arrived?”

 

“Yeah, what's in the parcel, Leesh?” Chris added.

 

“Oh, it's just something I ordered on eBay a little while back,” she replied. “How about letting me through so that we can open it?”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Seriously?!” Ofelia declared disbelieving as she glanced at her best friend. “You could have bought anything in the whole wide world and you decide to buy us ugly Christmas sweaters?”

 

Strewn out on the table in front of them were seven thick woolen sweaters in seven ugly designs. 

 

“They're not too bad,” Luciana replied with a laugh as she lifted one of them and held it to her chest. “I quite like the reindeer, it's cute!”

 

Nick screwed up his face in a grimace, “ewww Luci! Definitely not my favorite thing to see you wearing.”

 

“Shut up Nick,” Alicia rolled her eyes and thrust another sweater, this one had an ugly Christmas tree repeating pattern covering its every inch, at her brother. “Stop complaining, you're going to have to wear this one!”

 

Ofelia laughed, “so why in the world are you doing this?”

 

“Because everyone on the Internet dresses their family members up in ugly sweaters and I'm no different.”

 

“Can I have the Santa Claus one?” Chris scooped up one of the sweaters and examined the pattern.

 

“Yeah, of course. Everyone pick your favourite and I'll assign mom and Travis to the two that are left! I call dibs on the Christmas lights one though!”

 

Ofelia chose one covered in snowmen, Chris took the Santa Claus one, Luciana insisted upon the reindeer, Nick was stuck with the tree and Alicia got the Christmas lights one that she wanted. She claimed that the design reminded her of Stranger Things, which was most definitely her favorite show at the moment. 

 

“So I take it that that leaves the parents with the ugly gingerbread house design and the candy cane striped one?” Nick tugged his t-shirt off and replaced it with his sweater. “Hey, this is actually quite comfortable!”

 

Alicia rolled her eyes, “I told you that it wasn't going to be that bad!”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“So why the hell do you want me to put on this ugly ass sweater again?” Maddie queried, her Southern accent strong. The blonde woman was clothed in a pair of black skinny jeans and a black camisole and she nestled against her partner.

 

“Because it's Christmas and I want us all to take a family photo?”

 

The blonde put down the mug that she was holding, which had most probably been filled with something a lot stronger than coffee, and smiled at her daughter. “Honestly sweetheart, why can't you kids just do it without Trav and I?”

 

“Because you two are part of my family too.”

 

Travis smiled, “oooh, can I see?”

 

Alicia nodded and passed her stepfather both of the sweaters. 

 

“I like this one,” he motioned toward the gingerbread one before he passed the other one to his girlfriend. “I take it that this one is left for Maddie then.”

 

The blonde swiftly slipped her camisole over her head, leaving her momentarily in a black lace bra, before she tugged the sweater on. “I look like an idiot, don't I?”

 

“A very chic sweater clad idiot, if you must.” Travis wrapped an arm affectionately around the woman. 

 

“Go away babe, you don't look any better!”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Okay, I'm going to put my camera on a timer and prop it up here,” Alicia precariously placed her phone on a messy stack, atop the table, that she had created. “And then I'm going to jump back into the group and the camera app will take a burst, so like a heap of images in a tiny timeframe.”

 

She finished speaking and sprung backward, toward the group. Nick had been positioned with his arm around Luciana, Ofelia was grinning beside him, Chris was in the front, because he was the shortest, and Maddie was leaning against Travis in the far left of the frame. The brunette inserted herself between her best friend and her mother.

 

“Okay guys, 3...2...1!”

 

They all grinned and the iPhone flashed and made a synthetic shutter noise as it captured the moment.

 

Nick ran to the phone, eager to be the first to see the picture. “It looks great guys, it needs to go on The Gram!”

 

“Let me see,” Alicia pushed her brother out of the way. The photo actually looked pretty good, and, in all honesty, their smiles looked anything but fake.

 

“Okay Nick, I'll airdrop it to you and you can put it on The Gram!”


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22 - the 22nd of December: The All-Nighter

 

“So we’re gonna pull an all-nighter!” Nick declared enthusiastically as he clapped his hands together. Just yesterday the kids had all decided that they'd make the most of the fact that their local shopping mall was staying open all night and go late night shopping. There were still plenty of presents that they needed to buy and the experience as a whole just sounded too exciting to ignore.

 

“Well I think the first thing we should do is go to the food court and get some coffees,” Ofelia replied from the driver’s seat. The eldest girl was driving mostly because no one really trusted Nick behind the wheel, Alicia was still learning (and getting lessons from Travis), Luciana was a bit iffy when it came to driving and Chris was still too young.

 

“Can I get a Red Bull instead?” Chris queried, he was seated on the back, next to Nick and Luciana, while Alicia was riding shotgun. The boy was never allowed to drink Red Bull, or anything similar, with his mom around, so he made the most of the time he spent with his other family.

 

“So course,” Ofelia smiled. “Just don't tell Liza.”

 

Luciana yawned, “I don't know if I'm going to make it through the night,” she murmured softly from her position beside Nick.

 

“We spent the day preparing for a reason,” Alicia began. Considering that they'd all known about the shopping trip, they'd spent the past day slumped around the MacBook and taken ‘Netflix and Chill’ to a whole new meaning. “And we’ll probably have coffee breaks and get snacks and everything, so you can sit down and rest then.”

 

“You're acting like we’re preparing for battle, Leesh,” Nick replied with a grin.

 

“We sort of are, there's only two days after today left until Christmas and we all have heaps of presents left to purchase,” the brunette peered down at her phone. 

 

“I've bought some of mine already,” Chris began.

 

Ofelia nodded. “Yeah, me too, but I still haven't got one for Nick, or one for Alicia.”

 

“You have mine then?” Chris rose an eyebrow.

 

“Yep, but you get absolutely no clues about what it is.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Coffee, come to mama!” Alicia Clark declared enthusiastically as she lifted a takeout cup to her lips. “Ahhh, they make the best coffee.”

 

Nick nodded in agreement, “I know right? It's actually so good, and not too strong or too weak, either.”

 

“This hot chocolate is nice too,” Luciana smiled as she looked up from her own cup. The girl had insisted that she didn't want a coffee, despite having always enjoyed the beverage in the past, and had instead chosen a caffeine-free alternative.

 

“Not as good as my Red Bull, I'm sure.” Chris smiled smugly and shook the van around in front of his friends. “This drink is my shit!”

 

Ofelia grimaced, “most definitely not the most pleasant choice in wording but Red Bull isn't too bad.” 

 

“So where's everyone planning on shopping?” Alicia asked. “I think it'd be handy if we got some sort of an idea and we could work from that.”

 

“Well I want to go to Lush, Target and maybe Hot Topic,” Ofelia replied.

 

“I'm planning on heading to Target as well and maybe Hot Topic too,” Chris grinned. “I can go with ‘Felia.”

 

“I want to get Leesha a gift and one for Chris as well so I might go around with Luciana,” Nick hugged his girlfriend's shoulders tightly.

 

“Nick does know these shops well,” Luciana squeezed her partner’s hand.

 

“You guys think I can go off by myself?” Alicia queried, “I want to grab a heap of things without you all seeing.”

 

“Yeah, sure Leeshy,” Ofelia shrugged her shoulders dismissively and ran some fingers through her hair. “We can all keep track of each other through our FaceBook Messenger group chat and maybe we all meet back at the big Christmas display at seven for dinner?”

 

“I want to go to TGIF!” Chris clapped his hands together enthusiastically.

 

“That actually sounds great,” Alicia smiled. “And we can still get frozen yoghurt at twelve o'clock right?”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“So where to first ‘Felia?” Chris queried as he strolled down the walkway beside his friend. It wasn't too crowded, definitely not empty, but not overly busy either. Chris knew that if his dad hadn't fought as hard as he did, he wouldn't be able to be out at the shops right now. He'd probably have to be in his room studying or doing something else of that boring calibre.

 

“Well, I need to get Nick something - maybe a Pretty Little Liars t-shirt because he's been so obsessed lately - and something else for Alicia,” the girl replied, her tone changing as she said the final word. Alicia, she said it in a different way, in a way filled with warmth.

 

Chris turned to his friend, something had been bugging him for a while and he needed to ask a question. “Ofelia…”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Do you have a crush on Alicia?”

 

Her eyes grew wide, her cheeks turned bright red and she glanced away from the boy. “Why the hell would you say that?”

 

“We’re friends Ofelia, and I see the way you look at her.”

 

“Chris, swear to God you will not repeat what you just said to anyone. Maybe I think she's hot, maybe I feel something for her, but she's my best friend and I don't need to scare her off just because of something so stupid.”

 

“Fine,” Chris placed one of his hands on the girl’s shoulder. “I won't tell, but I don't want you to die alone and be eaten by your five cats when you could have had something here.”

 

“Thanks Chris, you're a good friend and I swear I won't let my five felines feast on my remains.”

 

“Seriously ‘Felia, I see the way my dad looks at Maddie and Nick looks at Luci, don't deny yourself of that kind of love.”

 

“I promise, I won't.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

“I need to get Alicia something and I'm thinking maybe make up so why don't we go to the department store first?” Nick Clark decided with a grin as he glanced affectionately at his partner. Luciana was a very attractive girl. Tall, dark and beautiful. She was the opposite to him and sometimes he wondered how she'd fallen for him. 

 

He glanced down at his arms briefly, his attention immediately being captured by a few scars that tainted his flesh. Most of them were short and crisscrossed, the result of a deep sense of self hatred and the only way he had known to relieve the pain. A few were needle marks, scars that were the result of his addiction, of the demon known as heroin. It was a long jagged one that scared him the most, though. She'd been completely wasted, off her face, blind drunk, and she'd lashed out at him with a smashed bottle. She'd called him Stephen, thrown a bunch of expletives his way, and never once realised that, in her intoxicated state, she had been seeing her son, not his father. He had never shown her, he never would, he knew she never forgive herself if she knew, and the last thing he wanted was for her to ‘accidentally’ swallow one too many of those sleeping pills that she kept oh so close.

 

“What you thinking about baby?” Luciana, a slight look of worry on her face, queried softly.

 

Nick shrugged, “just stuff.”

 

X-X-X-X

 

Okay, so she had a Call of Duty game for Chris, a nice scarf for Luciana, and she had just bought a CD for Ofelia, but she still had no idea what to get her brother.

 

Alicia let out a sigh, adjusted her blouse and quickly hurried into the large Target store. She loved Christmas, it was one of her favourite times of the year, yet she always found that it was such a hassle to buy presents.

 

She glanced down at her phone, six forty stared back. She still had twenty minutes before she needed to meet back at the Christmas display.

 

X-X-X-X

 

“Alicia! Over here!” the brunette glanced across the bustling crowd of people, toward where her four friends were already standing.

 

“Guys! I'm starving!”

 

“I know right, I've been listening to ‘Felia’s stomach make these godawful noises for the last hour or something.”

 

“Shut up Chris,” Ofelia rolled her eyes.

 

“Did you get all the shopping?” Luciana smiled at her friend.

 

Alicia nodded, “everything I could find, at least.”

 

“Time for Thank God It’s Friday then, I suppose,” Nick grinned and a bunch of cheers sounded.


	23. Chapter 23

Day 23 - the 23rd of December: The Secret Santa

 

“Okay, everyone gather round,” Alicia Clark began enthusiastically as she glanced around the living room at her friends and family. It was finally time for Secret Santa and, for some bizarre reason, Alicia was ecstatic. About a month earlier, over dinner, the family had decided to do a Secret Santa, where they would all drop their name into a hat and draw another one out. After that they would proceed in purchasing a gift for the person they drew and today, on the twenty-third, they would exchange them.

 

“Secret Santa, huh?” Chris grinned and looked up from the iPad screen that himself, Nick and Ofelia had been intently watching. “The Liars will have to wait, we’ll come back to this episode after.”

 

“Come on, I want to see what happens.” Ofelia sighed and stood up. “I'm just grabbing my gift from under the tree.”

 

Luciana peered up from her phone, “I'll get mine too.”

 

Madison glanced at her partner, she was seated on his lap, dressed in one of his shirts, and his hand was gently stroking her bare thigh. “I haven't done this in years, I think I only did Secret Santa once, back when I just started working for the school. I got some shitty Christmas headband.”

 

“Well I hope you get something better this time, Angel.” Travis pressed his lips to the top of his partner’s head, relishing happily in the closeness of their position.

 

“Here's your gift mom,” Nick passed the blonde woman a box before he turned to his stepfather, “and here's yours Travis.”

 

Chris began to shake his gift rather aggressively. “Quit shaking it,” Alicia rolled her eyes, “do you want to break whatever's in there?”

 

“I just want to open it up Leesh,” Chris grinned. “I have no idea what it could be.”

 

“Why don't we open them up then?” Maddie adjusted her weight on the sofa, her head still resting on Travis’ shoulder.

 

“You first mom,” Nick grinned over at his mother and watched as she tore the wrapping off of her gift.

 

Her eyes widened and she shook her head as she held her gift up. “Ha, ha, so fricken funny, guys,” she showed her family a mug with ‘This Probably isn't Coffee’ painted across the ceramic surface. 

 

Nick flashed his mother a look, Ofelia let out a laugh and Travis squeezed her hand. “Well it's probably true…”

 

“Go away,” she playfully shoved at his chest. “You're so rude.”

 

“Who do you think bought it for you mom?” 

 

Maddie turned to Travis, “I'm thinking you,” she pointed at him accusingly. “But then again it could always be one of the kids.”

 

“Can I open mine next?” Chris was growing impatient, and he rapidly tore the wrapping off before Alicia even had the chance to nod. He lifted out a cap that read: ‘PLL Fan Forever’. “I love it!” the boy grinned and placed it atop his head. 

 

X-X-X-X

 

A good fifteen minutes passed and everyone had opened their gifts. Travis had found a pair of Christmas socks, Alicia had some large sunglasses with white frames, Nick had a make up palette, Luciana a water bottle shaped like a pineapple and Ofelia had a scarf.

 

“I'm guessing ‘Felia got me mine,” Nick said with a laugh and watched as Ofelia rolled her eyes.

 

“Damn you Nicholas Clark, you got me.” She paused and peered at the scarf, “maybe mine is from Luciana?”

 

Luci shook her head, “nope.”

 

“It's actually from me,” Alicia grinned. “And I feel like my gift is from Luciana?”

 

“I actually got it for you,” Travis smiled. “I hope you like them.”

 

“They're great Travis, thanks.”

 

The English teacher glanced at his own gift, “is this from you, Nick?”

 

“Yep, you're a good guesser, man!”

 

Chris adjusted his cap, “it’s from Luciana, isn't it?”

 

“You got me,” the Mexican girl grinned. “Maybe mine is from Maddie.”

 

The blonde nodded, “yep honey. I suppose that means that Chris got me the smart ass mug.”

 

The boy beamed, “I knew that you'd love it!”


	24. Chapter 24

Day 24 - the 24th of December: The Ribbon

 

“Damn, work is so goddamn tirin’, babe.” Maddie Clark groaned irritably as she collapsed down onto the bed beside her partner. Despite it being a Saturday and not having to actually go into the school to see students she had still spent a good half the slaving away at job-related tasks. She'd had to deal with career pathways for all of the grade ten students and it had been painstaking. 

 

Travis rolled his eyes and pulled the woman toward his chest, resting his chin atop her head. “You'd think all those coffees I saw you drinking would have made the job easier.”

 

She squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't have the heart to let him know that those hadn't been coffees and that she'd been downing mug fulls of Vodka. She didn't care what the school thought, she was tired of it all. She was honestly surprised that she'd been able to keep her alcoholism a secret from the school for so long. She didn't look like an alcoholic. She was a neat, buttoned down blonde, but that didn't stop her craving whatsoever.

 

“You'd think, but it didn't.” 

 

“Well I did want to do something with you but I suppose I can save that for another night if you're too tired.”

 

Maddie rose an eyebrow, “is that you tryin’ too fricken hard to be smooth?” She paused and let her hand skirt over his jean covered thigh toward his crotch area. “‘Cause Trav, I ain't that tired!”

 

Travis blushed, his cheeks growing red, “you sure?”

 

“Abso-fucking-lutely sure, babe.” She proceeded in pressing her mouth hard against his, and slipping her tongue in between his lips. His hands knotted in her hair, tugging lightly, as she began unbuttoning his shirt. She discarded it and moved her mouth, lips running down his chin and toward his chest.

 

She heard him moan as she traced his pectoral with her tongue whilst she used her hands to undo his jeans and tug them down his legs. She felt at the rock solid bulge in his Calvin Kleins before she slipped his manhood out swiftly, cupping the stiff erection in her hands.

 

“Maddie,” he moaned softly into her hair before he slid his hands under her t-shirt and worked it over her head. Carefully, he unclasped her black lace bra and tossed it aside. He worked his fingers over her breasts, massaging her nipples into hard and aroused peaks before he began to suckle on one of them. He bit at it gently, not wanting to hurt her, and slid one of his hands down into her panties. He immediately felt her grow hot and damp, her juices drenching through her fingers, and listened as she moaned.

 

Travis moved his head between her legs, the damp wetness flowing into his mouth as he slid his tongue over her folds.

 

“Goddamn it Travis, fuck me, fuck me now!” she practically screamed as she dug her nails into his back. 

 

He nodded compliantly and adjusted his body so that he slipped into her. He thrusted forward and began to kiss her, letting her taste herself against his lips.

 

They moved back and forth, their bodies banging together rhythmically and their breaths heavy and rushed. 

 

“Faster,” she murmured. “Harder.”

 

Damn, Madison Clark sure adored orgasms.

 

X-X-X-X

 

They lay exhausted yet contended in a sweaty heap hours later. Both still naked, their bodies happily curled together. Her head resting against his chest, his arms wound around her. A mess of arms and legs and contrasting skin tones.

 

“Now that was fun,” Maddie whispered softly. “It's times like that when I forget that I'm fifty one and feel like a young woman again.”

 

“I know what you mean,” Travis laughed. “Just for a fleeting moment we’re free of responsibilities and we can just think about each other.”

 

“I needed something like that before Christmas, it's going to be exhausting tomorrow. I swear I'm not going to catch a fucking break while I'm pouring the guests drinks and attempting to be a good host.”

 

“Agreed. I can't wait to give the kids their presents though.”

 

“Always the giver, Travis Manawa.” Madison stood up and strolled casually toward the dresser, from which she removed a long red ribbon.

 

“What are you doing?” Travis asked curiously.

 

Maddie shrugged, “it’s past twelve, technically it's Christmas, so I'm making myself a gift.” She proceeded in tying the ribbon neatly around her partner’s neck.

 

“And I’m that present?”

 

She smiled, “well of course. A smart, sexy and very naked English teacher. What more could a woman want?”


	25. Chapter 25

Day 25 - the 25th of December: The Hug

 

It was five thirty four in the evening, her kids and the others were all inside bustling about, still on a post festive lunch high. She was sure that her partner was still cleaning up in the kitchen, he seemed to have been glued to countertop all day. She loved him, but sometimes he seemed to love cooking more than her.

 

The woman lit a cigarette. Damn, she'd been craving a smoke all day but she hadn't been able to slip away for long enough to light one up. She pursed her lips, inhaled and blew a stream of smoke out in front of her. She'd smoked her first cigarette at about eleven, she'd found it on the coffee table, her dad left packs around, and had thought she'd try it, mostly because all the movie stars looked so cool when they smoked. It had become another addiction, damn her genetics, she'd been hooked for years.

 

She was already pretty plastered from the champagne and the red wine she'd had with her guests at lunch, and all the sips of clear liquid from a disposable water bottle she'd kept on her, weren't helping either. She'd quickly downed a mouthful of Vodka, straight from a bottle that she was clutching, and smiled. Okay, to the general population she probably looked like a mess, but she was in her happy place. Curled in the back of her 1990 something Toyota Camry, dressed in black dress with a playful neckline, her makeup smeared, her mind a blur with alcohol.

 

“Because you're young, you're wild, you're free…”

 

Her daughter was listening to Lana Del Rey on the record player that she and her partner had bought the teenager as a Christmas present. The woman didn't mind Lana, she wouldn't admit it, but the screwed up songs resonated on some level with her. That was probably the alcohol talking, though.

 

“You're dancin’ circles around me…”

 

She took another swig, she liked the way that the liquor made her feel, the fact that it numbed her. She didn't like Christmas, sure she enjoyed seeing her family and all that, but it reminded her of too much shit to actually be a nice experience. She supposed that abuse did that to a person, that it tainted things with memories that they'd rather forget. She thought of all of the black eyes that she'd sported, the cuts that still left her flesh scarred, the ways that people who were supposed to love her had violated her.

 

“You're fuckin’ crazy…”

 

But she supposed he made her Christmases better. Just that morning she'd been woken at an ungodly hour by a stream of kisses only to find her partner dressed in some Calvin Kleins and a Christmas hat, with a huge smile on his face. ‘It's Christmas, Angel.’ He loved Christmas, almost as much as he loved her. People like him weren't supposed to love people like her. Saints weren't supposed to love sinners. He wasn't supposed to love an alcoholic, a sociopath, an addict incapable of showing him back the love that he deserved.

 

Suddenly, the garage door opened, and she watched as her partner stepped into the garage, his chocolate brown skin darker than usual in the low light. His hands were still slightly red from the beetroots he had cut for a salad, and he was clothed in a checked shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Even in her alcohol addled mind, he still looked amazing. So goddamn amazing.

 

He didn't say anything when he opened the car door and saw her, he just slid into the back seat beside her. He didn't comment on the smeared mascara and lipstick, the cigarette held between her fingers, or even on the fact that she was cradling a liquor bottle, he just pulled her into his lap. He wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head, ignoring the smoke that wafted around them. 

 

She couldn't help it, she was crying. Tears streamed down her cheeks, screwing up her mascara even more. He tightened his embrace and began to rock her from side to side. Shushing her with his lips, soft pecks against her forehead, cheek, collarbone, nose, and, finally, lips. 

 

They just sat in silence, no need to say anything, for they could probably both read each other's thoughts by now. She wasn't sure where the sudden bout of emotions had stemmed from, it was probably the liquor, but his touch was silencing her thoughts in a bizarre way. It was more effective than the goddamn drink.

 

“Oh, oh, you're crazy for me…”

 

So this was Christmas, huh? Maybe it wasn't gonna be so tough after all.


End file.
